Take a Hint
by Not-So-GentleFist
Summary: It's been two long years for Hinata since Naruto left the leaf village, but now he's back and Hinata's hormones are taking over. She's not going to stand back and watch him any longer, but just how far will she go to get the knucklehead to notice her? -OOC bolder Hinata
1. Prologue

A:N: Hey! Back with my second fic! This one is gonna be completely different from my last, decided to do something that might be more my style... So I decided to make a pervy humor! This is just a little intro, so its gonna be shorter and more boring than what I hope for my other chapters, but if you like the idea, stay tuned for more!

Before we begin, I'd just like to thank everyone who read and reviewed my last fic (Just Like Everyone Else), thnx for the support & feedback! To set the record straight: I'm a HUGE fan/supporter of the NaruHina pairing (they're the reason I read fanfiction). I understand if you were offended/disappointed with the other one, but I feel I woulda failed as a writer if I DIDN'T get that reaction, as it was meant to be a sad ending. The whole idea was just something I thought of and was curious to see, I don't think Hinata ould EVER actually do that in real... er, canon life. Without further ado, on with the sho... literature!

* * *

They were the hardest two years of Hinata's life. When she heard Naruto would be leaving the leaf to train with Jiraiya, it hit her hard. When he actually left, it hit her even harder. The village just didn't feel the same without his boisterous self, unrestrainedly boasting and raising mischief throughout it, much to the joy of many of the villagers. However, Hinata missed hearing the blonde laughing and shouting on his way down the village streets, making himself known to everyone in a five mile radius. He was what made a normal day in Konoha interesting.

For a while, she just couldn't accept it. She would sometimes trek down to his old training grounds, like she often did when she watched the orange-clad shinobi, and wished to see those sharp, golden locks; those cute whisker marks strewn across his cheeks; and those beautiful blue eyes, deeper than the deepest ocean. But alas, he was training elsewhere now.

There were times Hinata missed her love so much, she just wanted to give up on everything. How could she ever succeed with her one inspiration gone? However, she knew she had to stay strong. She had made a promise to herself to get stronger too, so she could become a fine shinobi – and woman – the kind that would impress Naruto, the kind that he would want to be with.

So she trained too, harder than ever. Every day she improved by leaps and bounds, quickly gaining acknowledgement for her skills from her teammates and even her ever cold father. Not only did she grow into an impressive ninja, but it improved her confidence exponentially too, and her previous shy and nervous nature was a thing of the past.

However, there was one more change that Hinata undertook while Naruto was away, one that she hadn't planned on. One far more confusing, frustrating, and physically and mentally altering.

Hinata hit puberty. Hard.

Of course she was educated on the matter, her father had given her 'the talk' after she had graduated the academy and became a genin. This meant that Hinata had more or less been expecting many of the physical changes that occurred in her body, and realized they were perfectly natural. However, Hiashi being the prudish Hyuuga he was, was too embarrassed to mention anything to do with hormones or 'impure' urges. She learned about these the hard way.

Ever since he left, Hinata could never seem to get Naruto off her mind. She constantly imagined the day he would return to village. She would spot him coming through the Konoha gates and rush over to him. She would greet Naruto warmly, he would be so happy to see her again that he would wrap her in a tight hug, and tell her how much he missed her. Then Naruto would ask her out to Ichiraku's, and they would catch up. Hinata would imagine eating beside her blonde crush, all the incredible tales Naruto would have to tell her of his travels, and she imagined he would be impressed by all her accomplishments during his training trip too. But as her body changed, these thoughts of Naruto took an… _interesting_ turn as well.

Instead of the Konoha gates, Hinata was meeting Naruto in her bedroom. The hug turned into a passionate kiss. The blonde's signature orange clothes disappeared. Their conversation turned into incomprehensible moans as Naruto greedily slurped… something _other_ than noodles…

Hinata was deeply embarrassed by her fantasies, and as they became more frequent, proved to be a huge distraction, hindering her productivity in training and missions. In an attempt to clear her mind of these thoughts, she went to the only older woman she knew she could trust – Kurenai sensei. Hinata had hoped her sensei's talk would give her some help in controlling her imagination – that plan backfired horribly, as the more she learned about her urges and sexuality, the more vivid her fantasies became. Perhaps Kurenai went into too much detail, because now Hinata had daydreams of the blonde knucklehead that would put the Icha Icha series to shame.

When Hinata ran out of waking moments to fantasize about Naruto, those fantasies overflowed into her dreams. Kurenai had told Hinata about wetdreams, but Hinata felt like hers could probably contest with the flooding caused by hurricane Katrina! She would need to take two showers every morning before meeting her team just so Kiba wouldn't get a nosebleed from the scent of her!

Indeed, it was a hard couple of years. However, it was all made worth it that day she went to the market, accompanied by her cousin Neji. It had been roughly two years since Naruto had left the village, which was why Hinata was so surprised when she suddenly heard thundering shouts coming from an all too familiar voice down the street. Not trusting her ears, Hinata immediately spun around to see an orange figure approaching from a distance that could only be the knuckleheaded ninja of her dreams.

Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

And that's the prologue! Keep up with the reviews, I was honestly surprised with the amount of reviews my first fic got in less than a day, hoping to see even more with this series! More to come, so please follow & fav, and give me any feedback in the reviews! As you can tell this story is gonna be sorta pervy in nature, I'm planinng for the perv-level to increase gradually tho, so don't be shocked if my next chapter isn't lemon-city. Regarding which, as I said in the summary, this story is CURRENTLY T, however I may be adding some limes once I get things rolling, and MAYBE I'll end the series with a lemon. If you'd like to see that, help me make my decision in the REVIEWS, pce!


	2. Chapter 1: What not to Wear to Training

**A/N: **Yo! After a few days of hard work… I decided to take a break and jot down another chapter. JK, I put **plenty **of work into this. Second chapter of Take a Hint is here! …Well, technically the first since chap 1 was a prologue. Some humor, some romance, and some partial nudity! Yay! Please keep up the favs/follows, but especially the reviews, and let me know that people are enjoying this! Hopefully this fiction gets more attention than Hinata does from Naruto, lol. Enjoy!

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Kyuubi'**_

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki.

There was no mistaking it, that was Konoha's knuckleheaded ninja. No one else had that loud, carefree attitude that could grab your attention from miles away. Not to mention he was the only shinobi brave enough to wear his trademark try-and-kill-me-orange outfit.

"So then I jumped out and told 'em, 'Try and kill me!'" Naruto shouted to his companion, making exaggerated hand gestures.

Yes, that was Naruto. Suddenly, the village street expanded by 5 miles, and Hinata couldn't wait long enough for Naruto to casually make his way to her. She hadn't seen the blonde object of her fantasies in two years, she couldn't wait another minute.

The lavender eyed kunoichi took a closer look at Naruto, and what she saw was not at all what she had expected. Hinata had expected Naruto to have changed, but what she saw shocked and awed her. The once short jinchuuriki had shot up at least a foot. The trademark orange and blue outfit he used to wear was exchanged for one that replaced the blue with black. His glowing blonde locks had grown a little longer, though remained just as untamed and spiky. His cute, whiskered face had lost its goofy, childlike qualities. He now bore a chiselled jaw and cheeks, complimented by his sun-kissed skin, and a barely noticeable hint of blonde stubble where facial hair had once grown. However, he still wore that foxy grin when he was amused just like Hinata remembered, and still had those heart-melting deep blue eyes.

It was all too much for her. The Naruto of Hinata's fantasies couldn't compare to the real deal, if only Hinata had known how he had turned out earlier. She couldn't help herself and began undressing Naruto with her eyes.

"Hinata-sama, why is your byakugan active?" questioned Neji curiously after turning away from an interesting stand.

" …Wha…? Oh! I…I… hadn't noticed." Hinata responded lamely, de-activating her byakugan and looking down with a mixture of shame and disappointment. _'Damn, I was just about to get below his abs… mmm…'_

Neji raised a brow suspiciously at this excuse, but was interrupted before he could question further.

"Hey! Neji! How've you been!" came a shout from down the street. Both Hinata and Neji turned to be greeted by the sight of Naruto not ten feet away from them, waving. The orange-clad shinobi jogged up to them with his wide grin, accompanied by Sakura.

"Naruto, is that you? Welcome back!" greeted Neji. A hint of a smile crept onto the ever stoic Hyuuga's face. "Did you just arrive back from your training with Jiraiya-sama?"

"Yeah, I just got back an hour ago! The old perv ditched me to go spy on the hot springs or somethin', and I met up with Sakura a while ago. She's been filling me in on everything that's been going on while I was gone. So I heard you're the only other one of the Konoha eleven who didn't become chuunin. I find that really surprising, but it's nice to know I'm not the only genin" Naruto chuckled.

"I'm afraid you still are. But don't worry Uzumaki, I'm in pretty much the same boat as you. Except I'm the only **jonin**" teased Neji, smirking superiorly.

"If you'd stop interrupting me, you'd know that" the pink-haired medic interjected, cross-armed.

Naruto merely smirked back. "That's too bad, I was really looking forward to kicking your butt again in the next chuunin exam."

"You so sure you can still beat me?"

"Believe it!" (**A/N: **sorry, it just slipped out)

After a short, tense pause, Neji chuckled silently. "I look forward to seeing what Jiraiya-sama has taught you. We must have a rematch sometime."

Naruto chuckled excitedly, then eased up his stance, glancing to Hinata quickly. "So Neji, who're you with? You get a girlfriend while I was gone?" teased Naruto with a Jiraiya-like grin. Hinata saddened upon hearing that her childhood love didn't remember her. Neji blushed lightly, but Sakura was the first to answer.

"Naruto you baka! That's Hinata, remember!" Sakura seethed, and conked Naruto on the top of the head.

"No way, Hinata? Wow, I totally didn't recognize you! You've really changed! You look good!" the whiskered ninja exclaimed happily. Hinata seemed to perk up a little at this and lifted her gaze from the ground.

"R-really?" Hinata asked. _'Where did that stutter come from! I thought I fixed that!'_ Apparently Naruto could still bring out her old habits. Fortunately, she didn't feel the urge to faint, and her blush was very slight, so she took it as a victory.

"Yeah! You look… nice with long hair." Naruto said, glancing away for a quick second. Hinata could've sworn he was blushing slightly too. "I was just about to go and make sure Ichiraku's didn't go out of business without me, you guys wanna come?"

Hinata opened her mouth to accept the offer, but before she could Neji spoke. "I am sorry, Naruto, but Hinata and I must attend a clan meeting today and should be going." Hinata glared at Neji. Neji saw this and gave her a stern look back. Hinata sighed defeatedly and agreed.

"That's too bad, maybe we can get together another time." Hinata nodded and gave a small smile before leaving with her cousin. She burned holes in the back of his shirt with her glare the entire walk to Hyuuga compound. Hinata knew it wasn't his fault she was busy, but she sure as hell wouldn't have minded being late for the meeting if it meant being with Naruto-kun for the first time in two years! What's even worse, they left him alone with Sakura! To get lunch! It was practically a date, and she was just letting it happen! Hinata really needed to go home and… _relieve some stress_.

* * *

The next day, Hinata began searching for Naruto, hoping he wouldn't be busy since he had just arrived back in the village the previous day. This hope was crushed, however, when she found out that he and the remnants of team 7 were meeting to test their teamwork. So basically, Naruto was spending more time with his old crush, Sakura. Hinata just hoped Naruto did not still have feelings for her.

Hinata shoved her worries aside for a while after she ran into Ino and Tenten. They had been on their way to their favourite café, and Hinata gladly joined them. After they were seated and ordered their food, the conversation quickly became focused on the return of Konoha's knucklehead ninja.

"Did you see him too Hinata?" Ino queried.

"Yes. We saw each other in the market yesterday, but I had to leave before I could really talk to him much."

"Yeah, same" responded Tenten.

"Did you **see** him though? Who would've thought Naruto would've gotten so tall!" Ino practically shouted.

"I know! When you think about it, Naruto actually turned out kinda… **hot.**" Tenten admitted.

Ino crossed her arms and looks away hesistantly. "…I guess… a little…" the blonde kunoichi mumbled, reluctant to admit that Naruto had actually become quite a looker. "…I mean, he does have that nice hair…" Ino began playing with her own.

"And those dreamy eyes," Tenten stated, gazing deeply into nothing.

"And those hard abs," mused Hinata, seemingly lost in her thoughts. The other two kunoichi whipped their heads to her with a look of surprise on their faces. Though Hinata may not be as socially terrified as she was when she was younger, she was most definitely not the most outspoken girl, especially when it came to boy talk. Ino and Tenten's expressions twisted into twin evil grins.

"How'd ya get a peek at his muscles, Hinata-chan?" Tenten questioned knowingly.

"Um… I… w-well…." Hinata stammered, thinking back to her byakugan abuse the previous day.

"Maybe she just asked nicely and he took off his shirt for her" Ino teased, donning a mock innocent look with puppy-dog eyes.

"Perhaps she followed him home and watched him change" suggested Tenten, imitating a stalker and slowly creeping towards Hinata.

"Or _maybe _Hinata was being a naughty little Hyuuga and misused her kekkei genkai~" Ino sang mockingly. Hinata was beet red and just tried to look away from her two teasing friends, who immediately surrounded her as closely as possible.

"So… did you happen to see… anything _else_…? Come on, you can tell us! We won't let Naruto know, come on!" begged Tenten.

"I didn't see anything else! I just looked at his upper body I swear!"

"Well, how was it?"

"It… well, uh… Naruto-kun is… **very** strong." Hinata finally answered, drooling slightly.

"He'd have to be, to carry around that huge package." Hinata's head turned to Ino so fast it broke the wind. "I mean, did you see the size of it! I don't think I could have wrapped my arms around it! It must weigh a tonne! Who do you think he gave it to? Or maybe he's keeping it to himself..." By the time the blonde kunoichi had stopped, Hinata's nose was releasing a life-threatening amount of blood, and her imagination was running so wild, one could actually see Hinata's thoughts if they looked closely enough inside her ear.

"I heard Naruto's sensei made him deliver a shipment of his newest novel to all the Konoha book stores so he could start 'researching' for the next one, whatever that means" Tenten clarified for Ino. At this, Hinata's mind slowly returned to reality.

"_Ohhh_, that explains why he seemed so irked" Ino observed.

"Yeah, it was a dick move. Can you imagine spending two years alone with that guy? I don't know how Naruto could stand it." Ino and Hinata nodded in agreement.

"He probably stayed for the _sights_" Ino stated suggestively, a hint of disgust evident in her tone.

"I suppose it would be nice, to see so many different lands and villages. I wouldn't mind travelling a bit too, I've always wan-"

"I didn't mean _those_ sights," Ino interrupted Hinata mid-sentence, "Naruto calls him ero-sennin for a reason you know." _Ah yes_, how could Hinata forget Naruto's favourite name for his sensei. But what was Ino getting at? "I'm sure the old lecher probably dragged Naruto to a lot of strip clubs and brothels while they weren't training."

"That can't be true. Naruto-kun was only twelve when he left with Jiraiya-sama! What kind of a man would bring a twelve-year-old to such a place!" Hinata rebuttled.

"You have **no** idea how bad this guy is Hinata! Remember our first chuunin exams? After the preliminaries were over, I went to the hot springs to try to relax. All of a sudden I heard this giggling coming from behind me, I turned around to see what it was and I saw that old bastard sitting on a tree branch just above the wall! When I screamed at him to get the fuck out, he just stared at me! And he was **so not** making eye contact, if you know what I mean." All three girls shuddered at Ino's tale.

* * *

**Across Konoha**

Jiraiya suddenly let out a large sneeze. It was immediately drowned out by the shrieks of a dozen terrified and enraged bathing women.

* * *

**Back at the café**

Hinata recomposed herself after the urge to vomit left her. "Still, Naruto-kun would never do anything so indecent with other women." This was something Hinata could not accept. She was saving herself for her love, and she had hoped that she would be his first too. But then again, two years with the infamous 'ero-sennin' was a long time…

"Come on, Hinata! You know how men are, and he's been privately taught by the worst of them all! I'm sure even he ha-" Ino froze, as if something had just clicked. She looked towards Tenten, who was doing the same. They both turned back to face Hinata with unnerving grins stretched across their faces.

"What do you mean _other _women, eh Hinata?" Tenten questioned teasingly.

Hinata immediately realized the mistake she made. "N-no! That's not what I meant! I-"

"What are you saying Hinata? Are you saying he _would_ – or perhaps, you would _want_ him to be pervy with our sweet, blushing little heiress?" Ino leaned closer to Hinata, as did Tenten. Both were giggling uncontrollably at the sight of the lavender eyed Hyuuga blushing and stuttering like she used too back in their academy days.

"I… ano.. W-well, I m-mean… T-that's not…" Hinata fumbled around for a lie, too embarrassed to admit her lust for the blonde. Her crush on Naruto was common knowledge – she had recently even found out some of her old academy classmates would actually henge into Naruto while he was away to get her to faint and take her lunch or copy her homework – but she was mortified at the thought of anyone knowing about all the graphic daydreams she had of the blonde, lest they think of her as a slut.

After a couple minutes of Hinata's fruitless stuttering around for an appropriate answer, Ino finally stopped her. "Geez Hinata, you must **really** still have it bad for him," Ino started, chuckling with Tenten, "I haven't heard you stutter like that in over a year!"

"Y-yes" Hinata answered as her face slowly returned to a more natural colour, thanking Kami they had changed the subject.

"Are you ever gonna make a move on that lughead? However much he's grown up, I'm sure he's just as dense as before, so don't expect him to just show up at your door with roses to ask you out!" Tenten said, making a good point. Hinata looked down for a moment, as if uncertain, but then looked up. Hinata's eyes gleamed a burning determination in them as she spoke.

"I will make Naruto-kun notice me this time. There's nothing I want more than to be with him, I'd do anything to have him feel the same way for me as I do for him." Hinata finished her little speech with a deep sigh laced with longing. Ino and Tenten just smiled at her, proud of her newfound resolve.

"So you want him to notice you, eh? I think I know how to do just that…" Ino offered a bit **too** enthusiastically.

"Oh no…" muttered Tenten.

"How?" Hinata stared at Ino, her eyes pleading for an answer.

"The first thing you need – is a new outfit! Get rid of that baggy old jacket! Naruto's never gonna pay attention to you if you don't give him something to look at!" Ino winked at Hinata, who looked away with a light blush. "You know what this calls for… MALL DAY!" Ino raised her hands, shaking and sqealing like a giddy child. Hinata and Tenten winced in pain as they covered their ears.

"Not again…." groaned Tenten weakly. She and Hinata were immediately grabbed by their shirts and dragged towards the shopping district by a gleeful blonde kunoichi.

* * *

The day's first rays of sun shone through the windows of the Hyuuga compound. Hinata opened her eyes, squinting from the brightness. She sat up and got out of her bed, walking lazily over to her closet. Sliding open the door, she gazed at the rows of new clothes she had bought the previous days. They were more… _revealing_ than she was used to wearing, but Ino had convinced her to buy them.

The heiress went through her new outfits, deciding on which to wear. She settled on a tight lavender tube top and a white mini-skirt. Hinata looked at her reflection in the mirror, uncertainty evident. However, she pushed her doubts aside with one deep breath and walked downstairs for breakfast.

It was a bit past noon, and Konoha's food district was bustling with hungry villagers and shinobi alike looking to get some lunch. Hinata chose this time to search for her hyperactive crush because it would be the easiest time to track him down. She knew exactly where he would be – Ichiraku's Ramen.

Hinata made her way to the ramen stand, and was not disappointed when she saw an orange figure sitting in the third chair from the left. Hinata had to pause for a minute to calm herself down.

'_It's ok, this is what you've been waiting for. Time to get Naruto-kun to notice me.'_ She gave herself a mental peptalk, but doubts clouded her mind. _'I did this all for him. I became stronger, I became more confident, I even bought these clothes. Now I just have to show him what I've become, tell him how I feel, and hope he feels the same. But… What if he doesn't? What if… I'm still not good enough? What if I start stuttering again! Or worse, faint! Maybe I should just try this another day… NO! I don't give up, and I don't go back on my word! That is my nindo! I'm going to go there and talk to Naruto-kun!'_

She was as prepared for this as she was ever going to be, she had convinced herself. Hinata took slow, yet unhesitant steps towards the stand. The blue-haired Hyuuga was now close enough to hear her love's voice. _'Just a few more steps…'_ she coaxed herself. It was very discouraging to know just how nervous the blonde could still make her. What good was all the courage in the world if it dissolved whenever she was around the one person she wanted the courage to talk to?

Hinata shoved her thoughts aside as she reached the restaurant, and took the seat next to Naruto. "Hello, Naruto-kun. Mind if I sit here?" _'Yes! No stuttering!'_

Naruto immediately recognized the voice. His face broke into a wide smile as he began to turn to face Hinata. "Sure, no problem! How's it going Hin –" Naruto fell silent, mouth still hanging agape. When he had turned to face Hinata, he was greeted by a very unexpected, but welcome sight. Instead of seeing the kunoichi in her usual attire, she was wearing an outfit only his sensei knew the right words to describe. If Naruto had to say what he thought of the outfit, the only word that would come to his mind would be – _'…hot…' _

He couldn't help but let his eyes roam up and down the form of the usually modest heiress. He had never seen so much of her figure, as it was usually buried underneath a baggy jacket. Naruto had no idea Hinata looked so… **hot**. Her top hugged her skin tightly, so even the parts that it covered were well defined, not that much of her was. He followed her milky skin, from her shoulders, to the generous portion of cleavage visible, to the uncovered portion of her flat, toned stomach. The miniskirt didn't do much of a better job covering Hinata's **hot** body. It cut off mid-thigh, allowing Naruto to see most of her leg, down to her sandals. The sight was just so… **hot**.

As Naruto took in seeing so much of Hinata's body, Hinata started to get uneasy under his gaze. _'He hasn't said anything for the last few mintes. He just keeps… _staring_. What is he thinking? Does he think I look attractive? Does he think I look like… a… a slut?' _"It's going g-good, H-how about you, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata answered his unfinished question to break the awkward silence. Hinata couldn't help but stutter under the intensity of his gaze.

Naruto snapped out of his daze, shaking his head in an attempt to divert his attention away from her **hot** body._'I really need a larger vocabulary, just so I can say how __**hot**__ Hinata is. No! This is Hinata, stop ogling her! Goddammit ero-sennin!'_ "I – uh – doin' good." He blushed as he spoke. _'Smooth'_ he mentally berated himself.

Hinata, getting bold and curious, decided to ask Naruto the question that was eating her inside. "How do you like my new clothes, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked with her hands behind her back, staring bashfully into endlessly blue eyes.

"They… uh… They look really…" Naruto searched for an appropriate response while mentally chanting _'Don't say hot, don't say hot, don't say hot…' _"… don't say hot…" _'*mental sarcastic clap*'_

'_Did he mean to say that out loud?'_ Hinata watched the flustered jinchuuriki in front of her, and a small smile graced her lips. _'Looks like Ino's idea is working' _thought Hinata.

"I mean… it looks – uh… w-w-well – "

"Oi! Naruto, who's your pretty friend here?" Teuchi asked, Naruto never more glad to be interrupted.

"Oh, this is Hinata Hyuuga."

"Hello Hinata, it's a pleasure to meet you. What'll you have?"

"I'll have a beef ramen please."

"Coming right up." As the chef starts to walk towards the back of the restaurant, he gives a sly grin to Naruto. "Only back for three days and you already got yourself a girlfriend eh?"

Naruto blushes and waves his hands in front of his face in a panic. "No, no! It's not like that! Me and Hinata are just friends!" Hinata looked a little disheartened by this proclamation, but only for a second.

"Too bad, she seems like quite a catch." Teuchi teased. This time Hinata blushed. While the two teens awaited their meal, Hinata decided to ask Naruto about his trip, as she had been quite curious. A few bowls of ramen and a couple of stories later, Hinata had come to two realizations. The first was that Jiraiya-sama really is **that** perverted. It seemed whenever Naruto could have used some help, he always seemed to either be at a hot spring or a brothel (with **Naruto's** wallet). The second was that, where the whiskered teen was concerned, she wasn't much better.

The entire lunch, Hinata could not take her eyes off the boy. It amazed her how he could look so much better after only two years, and he was pretty cute to begin with. To Hinata, Naruto just oozed temptation and sex appeal. His voice was deeper and masculine, his body was tall and well-built from his training. Thank Kami Naruto likes to ramble, because if Hinata had to talk half as much as he did she was afraid nothing but drool would come out. However she was grateful every once in a while when the blonde would ask her for her opinion, because that meant she would get a glance of those lustrous sapphire orbs gazing at her curiously. It made her heart melt. She had noticed Naruto giving her a few shy glances himself when he thought she wasn't looking, and it made her confidence boost to near narcissistic levels. When the Uzumaki was slurping up the last of his ramen, Hinata was entranced by a drop of broth that fell upon his soft, wet lips and trickled down to his chiselled jaw. The lavender eyed girl wished so bad she could just lick it off for him, and savour the taste… _and she wasn't talking about the ramen_. She unconsciously leaned in closer in her daze.

Naruto noticed this, and spoke up. "Is there something wrong, Hinata?"

Hinata realized what she had been doing and snapped back. "No, Naruto. There is just something I… wanted to tell you…" Hinata responded, fear welling up inside her.

"What is it?"

"Ano… It is j-just that… I-I really… like Ichiraku's Ramen!" Hinata ended in a rushed panic. This was not what she had meant to say, but she couldn't bring herself to confess to her love. _'I'll just have to try to get him to go out with me without admitting my feelings, I still cannot bring myself to do it. Perhaps if I spend some more time with him and give him some hints, he'll catch on.'_

"Me too! Maybe we'll start seeing each other more often then." Naruto exclaimed cluelessly. "But right now, I gotta go to training. You're welcome to come if you want."

"I have the day off, so sure." Hinata played it off coolly, but inside her mind she was ecstatic. _'It's not a date, but Naruto-kun asked me to spend time with him! Does he enjoy spending time with me, or is he just being polite?'_

The two paid their bills and walked off towards the training grounds.

* * *

After making it to the training ground, Naruto and Hinata met up with Sakura and they sat under a tree, waiting for their eternally late sensei. The Hyuuga secretly observed the orange-clad shinobi to see how he was reacting towards Sakura. When they spoke, Naruto just seemed more friendly than anything, and he hadn't asked her out yet. Hinata took this as a good sign, hoping Naruto had outgrown his old crush.

When Kakashi finally arrived, he was not alone. Accompanying him were the other three jonin senseis, who had apparently all given their students the day off and were curious to see how strong the legendary sennin had trained Naruto to be.

When Kurenai saw how her student was dressed, she was surprised to say the least, but she quickly realized why Hinata had done this, and gave her a wink when they looked at each other.

After noticing Hinata's presence, Kakashi decided to have Naruto spar with her first, as he had already seen him fight Sakura. The copycat ninja told them to warm up with hand to hand combat, and no jutsus. This came much to Hinata's dismay, as it meant she could not activate her byakugan to… erm… _size up_ her opponent. It was probably for the best though – if she had an army of Naruto's signature shadow clones rushing her with her kekkei genkai active, she might get a sight that would cause her to faint and never wake up.

Naruto and Hinata got into their fighting stances, and charged each other at Kakashi's signal. After the fight had begun, Hinata realized she was not at all dressed for training.

Her sandals were not built for comfort, making her movements slower and more awkward. She was also in a lot of discomfort due to her currently unrestrained assets bouncing around perpetually. _'"Don't wear a bra" she said. "Men like it when they jiggle" she said. Last time I listen to Ino.'_ With every leap, dodge, lunge, and turn, she could feel the inertia acting on her large rack trying to pull her back the other way. This did not go unnoticed, as Naruto quickly shifted onto the defensive, unable to focus on hitting his target.

Hinata came in with a kick. As she did, Naruto all but froze like a deer caught in the headlights, and the kick landed. _'Now's my chance to impress Naruto-kun'_ the blue-haired kunoichi told herself, determined to show Naruto how strong she had become while he was gone. Hinata sent a flurry of blows to the blonde, all only to be dodged or blocked. She then got down and performed a sweeping kick, which Naruto merely jumped over. As Naruto flipped over her, Hinata turned and landed another unopposed kick to his side as he was landing.

Hinata was beginning to wonder why it seemed so easy to land a hit against Naruto, especially when she came in with a kick. Then she noticed that not only Naruto, but everyone watching the spar stopped and stared whenever she began one of her kicks. That's when she realized – she was in a mini skirt – everyone at the training ground was getting a clear look at her panties each time she raised her leg! Kurenai was covering her eyes in embarrassement, Asuma just went wide eyed, Gai was closing his eyes mumbling something about youth, and Kakashing was leaning in closer unblinking.

Hinata stopped and held down her skirt tightly, covering her unmentionables in shame. However, this caused the hit that Naruto had lined up to hit, though a bit off-target. Immediately after Hinata recovered, everyone froze as if time itself had stopped. Afternoticing, she looked confusedly at Naruto, who then blushed like a tomato and looked away. Hinata was about to ask what was wrong, but before she could, she got her answer in the form of Naruto blindly pointing down at her. The heiress looked down to see what the problem was, and was instantly mortified at what she saw. Her top had put up a noble fight, but ultimately failed to contain her plump assets, as her left breast had burst out of her shirt.

The reactions of the senseis varied across the board. Kurenai had gasped and was currently gaping in shock. Asuma's cigarette fell out of his mouth, smudging ashes on his shoes. Gai was covering his eyes, shaking spastically and chanting aloud "Think youthful thoughts! Think youthful thougts!" Kakashi had his sharingan eye uncovered, and both were wide as he leaned in to the point of nearly falling over. Jiraiya was attempting not to let the blood gushing from his nose stain his notepad as his pencil danced swiftly across it.

Kakashi heard the scratching noise of Jiraiya's pencil, turned around and fell over comically. He immediately got back up, not averting his eyes from the sight before him a second time. "Jiraiya, what are you doing here?"

"Research" Jiraiya responded in an elated, pervy tone.

"Well you arrived at the perfect time."

"Not soon enough, I missed the whole panty show."

"How did you know about that?"

"Same way I always do. Sage mode. The nature chakra lets you sense **everything**" Jiraiya clarified matter-of-factly.

"Glad the only person entrusted with such a legendary and powerful jutsu is putting it to good use" the cycloptic jonin said sincerely.

It was too much for Hinata to take. Suppressing the urge to faint, she swiftly stuffed her protruding breast back into its confines, and ran away in sheer panic and embarrassment.

This day had not gone as she had hoped at all.

* * *

And that's the first (second?) chapter! What's gonna happen next time? How far will Hinata go to get the attention of her love? Will Icha Icha Shippuden be a best seller? Will Kakashi ever avenge the death of his father? All this, except for the last two coming up soon!

But seriously, hope you enjoy, it's been interesting as a newb to writing fanfiction seeing just where the story takes me. Sometimes it goes exactly like I planned, other times it just sorta unfolds as you write, it feels almost like the characters are alive in a universe within my own mind… Or maybe I'm just going insane. (If you knew me, you'd probly guess the second one)

Anyways, I got a lot of the next chapter planned out in my head, just need to actually write it and fill a few gaps, hopefully it'll be up within a week like this one. Until then – **FAV, FOLLOW, REVIEW, TWERK!**


	3. Chapter 2: The Sleepover Part 1

**A/N:** Yo! Chapter 2 (3?) is here! I know, the whole sleepover thing is pretty cheesy, but I think I did a good job with it! I enjoyed writing it at least. It turned out longer than I expected, so I'm gonna have to make this sleepover a 2-parter, for the sake of consistency concerning chapter length. Enjoy! (P.S. – things are about to heat up a little bit!)

* * *

After the incident at the training grounds, Hinata ran straight to the Hyuuga compound and locked herself in her room. She was not in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Things were going so well with her crush at first, only for her to screw it all up and embarrass herself right in front of him. Hinata only came out of her room that night for dinner, and desperately avoided any questions about her day, which was tough to do, as Hiashi, Hanabi and Neji all noticed her downtrodden expression, and wanted to know what was wrong.

The heiress could have holed herself up for weeks in her room, if it were not for the fact that she had training again the next day. This time, she opted to wear her usual black mesh top, to avoid any more _incidents_. However, for the second time in years, she left her big baggy jacket behind. Seeing the way Naruto had reacted to her without it had really boosted her self-image. If she looked good enough for her Naruto-kun, then she no longer felt the need to hide herself behind all those layers.

When the lavender-eyed kunoichi met with her team, she could barely look her sensei in the eye. Thankfully, Kurenai didn't bring up the previous days antics. After she had dismissed team 8 though, she held Hinata back, and told her that what had happened wasn't that bad, and that she was there for her if Hinata ever needed to talk about anything. This made her student feel a little bit better.

Of course, this relief vanished as quickly as it came when she ran into Ino and Tenten again, the former laughing hysterically. Apparently they had heard about the whole thing from Sakura earlier that day. Hinata now had a second reason to hate the pinkette.

"Don't you think you went a bit _over the top_, eh Hinata?" Ino teased, laughing uncontrollably. "You really _milked _that opportunity, didn't you? Did you ever let how you feel for the knucklehead _slip out_?" Hinata could tell she was not going to stop any time soon.

"Shut it Ino, leave the poor girl alone!" Tenten gave Ino a glare, however it was very ineffective as her expression kept flickering between a frown and smirk, as she was obviously holding back her own laughter for Hinata's sake.

"Look at it this way, Naruto would have to be a real _boob_ to not notice you now!" Ino snickered, now making a (poor) attempt to hide how hilarious she found the whole situation. Hinata just looked down with a hopeless expression.

Tenten gave Ino a sharp punch in the shoulder. "Stop it already! You're just making her feel worse!" Tenten turned to Hinata with a sympathetic gaze. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad. You shouldn't be so down! Come on, cheer up!"

"Yeah, you're usually so _perky _and now your mood is just _sagging_ down!"Tenten clamped her hand over the blonde's mouth before she could say anymore.

"Come on, I know you'll bounce back from this." Ino let out a muffled snicker at the word _bounce_. "I'm sure Naruto won't think any differently of you, you know how he is. I am sure he'll just forget about it."

Tenten's speech gave Hinata a little bit of reassurance, however she decided to leave the pair before Ino broke free of the bun-haired ninja's hold.

Though Hinata was mortified of facing Naruto again, she realized she was going to have to if she ever wanted to get anywhere with him. While she walked down the Konoha streets towards the Hyuuga compound, she thought of how she would make her next move. The lovesick girl then realized that if she wanted to avoid any more public humiliation, she would have to get the object of her affections alone.

* * *

Much to Hinata's disappointment, she did not end up seeing the hyperactive blonde for a few days. At least it gave her time to get over her embarrassment.

The two finally met while Hinata was on her way home after a dinner at her favourite restaurant, and came across the orange-clad shinobi walking out of the hokage building. The oranges and yellows of the ninja seemed to glow brighter than the setting sun to Hinata. She jogged up behind her love and tapped him on his shoulder.

"Hi Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted sweetly. She let out a small smile as Naruto turned to her. Naruto let out an awkward smile too as the two began to walk side-by-side. Hinata caught his expression, and guessed he was still nervous talking to her after their sparring incident. The lavender eyed girl decided to try to avoid the subject. "So, Naruto-kun, what were you doing at the hokage building?"

"Oh, I just came back from a mission and had to give baa-chan my report" he said, a bit more at ease.

"So how was your first mission back in the leaf?"

"It was ok I guess." Naruto pouted, obviously it had not been an exciting mission. "We were just escorting some merchants to a town not too far away. The pay was ok, but it was pretty boring. Nothing interesting really happened." Hinata let out a little giggle. Only Naruto complains when nothing _interesting_ happens on a mission, since by interesting he means being attacked by powerful opponents. "Hey! What's so funny!" Naruto snapped at Hinata, with a fake indignant pout.

"Nothing, nothing" Hinata said, still smiling.

Naruto simply jerked his head up with a "hmph," the pout still on his lips. Those soft, wet lips…

Hinata broke out of her trance staring at the boy after he suddenly put on a serious face and began talking. "Look, about the other day… I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to do that." Naruto rubbed the back of his head weakly, refusing to make eye contact. Hinata could feel his discomfort as hers began to build a bit too.

"I-it is ok. It w-was an accident." Hinata couldn't help but stutter, she was still embarrassed about the incident herself.

"…Thanks. And if it makes you feel any better, I didn't look…" Naruto said, beginning to look as if he had started to take up Shikamaru's favourite pastime of cloud-watching. This comment did put Hinata at-ease, but a part of her was also disappointed. It spoke volumes for how much of a gentleman her love was, but deep down, a part of her was hoping he had looked, and that he had liked what he saw. If she were in Naruto's position, she was not so sure she would be able to say the same. "I won't go around telling people either, I know how embarrassing that must have been." Hinata brightened up when he looked back at her, but her face fell after she registered what he said.

"It doesn't matter. Sakura already told Ino, and you know how she gossips. Half the town probably already knows." Naruto began to frown with her. How could her friends humiliate her like that? It was bad enough his team and all the senseis saw. Not to mention Jiraiya, who was probably in the process of publishing their escapades.

"Cheer up Hinata, I'm sure it isn't so bad. Is there anything I could do to make it up to you and take your mind off of it?" Naruto asked, waiting for a response attentively.

"Well… Maybe you could come over and you could tell me a few more stories from your trip? The ones you told me already were really interesting." Hinata smiled up at Naruto hopefully, awaiting a response.

Naruto scrunched his face into a contemplative look. "I dunno, it's getting pretty late." Hinata looked around, realizing that darkness fell upon the town while the two were walking, unbeknownst to her.

"You could spend the night with me if you would like" Hinata blurted out, realizing moments later what she had said. She managed to keep a calm face, but on the inside she was shaking with anticipation and disbelief of what she had just suggested. The blue-haired girl stared at her crush, fingers mentally crossed.

"You mean like a sleepover? That sounds pretty fun," _'Yes yes yes yes yes yes' _thought Hinata, "But don't you have like a really strict dad or something? You sure he would be okay with this?" The whiskered teen had a point. The forever uptight Hiashi, head of the Hyuuga clan, would never allow someone to sleep overnight in the Hyuuga compound, let alone a boy alone with his daughter for the night…

Hinata's face fell so hard it made an impact crater. "Actually, probably not. I had not thought about that…"

"If you want we could do it at my place instead" Naruto offered.

'_Naruto-kun just invited me to his house. His house where he lives alone. To spend the night. Naruto-kun invited me to spend the night at his house where we will have complete privacy and can do whatever we want… I have to answer him before I lose focus here!' _"Yes! I would love to!" the usually quiet girl all but shouted out, surprising the blonde.

The boy nearly junped, startled by her outburst, but he soon gave one of his usual foxy grins and chuckled heartily. "All right, how 'bout you go back to your place to get your stuff and meet me in an hour. My apartment is right around the corner there," the blonde pointed to the apartment complex, "I'm in room number 9. Sound like a plan?"

Hinata had feigned paying attention to Naruto's directions, as she already knew where Naruto lived from years of stalki – er, _admiring_ the teen. Hinata gave him a manic nod, unable to force anymore words out of her throat without squealing with joy. Tonight was going to be a good night.

* * *

After packing her things, Hinata headed towards Naruto's apartment. The heiress had changed into a dark blue tank top, which showed off a good amount of cleavage and her navel, and some tight matching shorts that barely covered the top of her thighs, displaying her long legs and accentuating her butt. She carried a bag filled with everything she needed for an overnight stay. It contained a sleeping bag, her toothbrush, a change of clothes, and a lavender sheer chemise she also bought on her shopping trip with Ino. _'Just in case… hehe…'_

While Hinata would not normally suspect Naruto of trying to pull anything perverted, he _**was**_ going to be having a girl alone with him in his little apartment overnight. It would be an opportunity she did not think any hot-blooded teenage boy would waste. And considering he was taught privately for two years by the legendary super pervert, Hinata was hoping Jiraiya was able to influence Naruto's mind _just a little_… That was why she had packed her skimpiest nightwear. If she still could not tell her love how show felt, she would be _**more**_ than happy to _show_ him how she felt – both figuratively _and_ literally.

The hopeful Hyuuga arrived at Naruto's doorstep. She ended up taking a bit longer than an hour, due to her father's thorough inquiry into what she was doing tonight, though she had convinced him she was just spending the night at Ino's. Hinata knew her father would not have allowed her to spend the night alone with any boy, let alone Naruto. For some reason, her father had also looked down on the poor Uzumaki, but would never explain why. Hinata pushed all thoughts to the back of her mind in order to suppress the perverted grin she had acquired from fantasizing about what the two could end up doing tonight on the way. She raised her hand and knocked firmly on the door.

After a short moment, she was let in by the smiling blonde, who told her where she could put her bag and shut the door behind her. What she didn't expect was to be greeted by the rest of the rookie nine and Team Gai mingling inside. Hinata looked shocked, but then crestfallen. Obviously Naruto had really gotten into the whole _sleepover_ idea. _'There goes our _alone_ time…'_

"Um… Naruto-kun… How did you invite so many people over so quickly?"

"Shadow clones." _'Of course.'_

"Hey, look, Hinata's here!"

"Hey Hinata!"

"Alright! Now everyone's here!"

"Yeah, it's been a while since the whole gang got together!"

"I agree! It is a prime display of the youthful bonds of friendship that we all share for everyone to come together like this!"

* * *

**On a Barren Street Elsewhere in Konoha**

"It is strange that Kiba would not be at his home at this hour, or Hinata. Hmm… For that matter, I have been unable to find anyone recently. I have the feeling I am being left out of something again. Ironic, that my friends would forget about me, as if I were as small and insignificant as an insect. But that is why I have all of you. **I **would never forget about any of **you**, Bugsy, Bugtilda, Bugson, Buggy, Bugbert, Bugtholomew…." Shino continued sullenly conversing with his insects, sulking in a dark alley on the way back to the Aburame compound.

* * *

**Back in Naruto's Apartment**

After everyone had stopped their small talk amongst themselves, everyone's attention shifted to the owner of the apartment. The ninjas, many of which had not had the time yet to speak much to Naruto due to training or missions, overwhelmed him with questions about his journey. The blonde merely adopted his usual foxy grin and asked everyone to sit down in front of him. Naruto, being the creative and energetic person he is, couldn't simply _tell_ his comrades his stories from the past two years. Instead, through the summoning of a small troupe of shadow clones and extensive use of henges, set up his own little apartment theater. Everyone else just chuckled at his antics. It was so Naruto.

After his sixth tale (and second knocked-over lamp) the Naruto players took a quick bow, while their audience gave them a round of applause. The others were not as dense as Naruto, and could tell that most of the stories had been over-exaggerated, but it had certainly been entertaining. After their cheers wore down, Ino shouted out "I think it's time we get some games going in here!"

"What did you have in mind Ino?" Kiba asked the mind walker.

"Well, this **is** a sleepover, so how about some truth or dare!" Ino said all too enthusiastically. The girls squealed in their excitement, while half of the guys groaned and the other half remained neutral. _'Oh no… what if someone asks about my crush? I'll just have to stick to dares then… Hmm… Maybe I could have some fun with this'_ Hinata thought, a devilish smile appearing on her lips. She hoped lady luck would be on her side.

After convincing some of the more reluctant members of the group, the shinobi all gathered in a circle. Choji grabbed one of his empty soda bottles and dropped it inbetween them all. Since Ino was the one who suggested it, she took the liberty of claiming the first spin. It landed on Neji.

"Truth or dare?" Ino asked.

"Truth" Neji replied blandly, obviously not interested in the game. Ino put her finger to her chin with a contemplative look on her face. After a few seconds, her mouth stretched into an unnerving grin.

"Have you ever used your byakugan to look through womens' clothes?"

Neji was caught off guard by this. He broke out into a cold sweat, and a blush crept onto his face as he opened his mouth to speak. "….yes…." he mumbled, studying the grain of the wooden floor he was sitting on.

The reactions varied from shocked gasps, to teasing smirks and snickers, to straight up hysterical laughter. _'Who would have thought my cousin has a perverted side. Perhaps it runs in the family. I am just glad I didn't get that question'_ Hinata thought with a mixture of mild shock and relief. Neji ashamedly spun the bottle without looking up. It landed on Choji this time.

"Truth or dare."

"Gimme a dare!"

Neji glanced around the apartment looking for ideas. He saw the collection of Kami knows how old instant ramen cups which would usually litter Naruto's floor, but were stacked on the counter in a half-hearted attempt to clean for the company. They still had some noodles and broth at the bottom. "I dare you to pour all of that unfinished ramen into one cup and chug it." All of the girls looked like they wanted to puke, while the guys just scrunched up their faces in disgust, letting extended "uuuggghhhh"s and "eeeewwww"s out of their mouths. Choji looked behind him to the stack without flinching.

"I thought you were gonna give me something tough!" Choji boasted. He walked up to the counter, grabbed a used cup and poured the others' remainders into it, one by one. Then, with a big chug, devoured the obviously expired food. A few of the girls ran to the bathroom and actually did vomit, while the rest swiftly turned away and voiced their disgust in unison. Choji seemed weirdly unphased by the mouthful. He returned to the circle after a burp and spun the bottle. This time Kiba was the target.

"Truth! I'm gonna hurl if I gotta do something like that." Kiba waited for the chubby ninja's question.

"Have you ever tried Akamaru's dog food?"

Kiba was obviously not pleased by this question. He crossed his arms and snapped "Just once, okay!" A few of the others stuck out their tongues and once again groaned a loud "ugh!"

"So you draw the line at old ramen, but dog food is ok?" Tenten picked on the dog lover.

"Hey! That stuff actually got a lot of nutrients and stuff you know!" the Inuzuka desperately defended himself.

"Well, it did give you a nice thick coat" Ino ruffled Kiba's hair playfully with a grin while everyone except him laughed. Kiba just growled and glared at Ino. Having had enough, the dog breeder hurriedly spins the bottle, landing on Sakura.

"So what'll it be Sakura, truth or dare?"

"I'll take a dare." Sakura gave a look that said 'bringiton!'

Kiba just gave an evil grin. "Alright then, I dare you to kiss the knucklehead over there" Kiba challenged, pointing to Naruto. There rest of the group whooped, while Sakura's eyes widened and her mouth hung agape. A plethora of emotions were swimming through Hinata right now. Shock, anger, jealousy, betrayal, sadness. How could her own teammate do this to her? Hinata felt like the Inuzuka may have had a thing for her, but she didn't think he would do something like this. Either he was trying to hook Naruto up with Sakura so she would give up on him, or his dog-brain was less observant than Naruto's and he hadn't picked up on her crush yet. With Kiba, it could really be either. _'I am __**definitely**__ hiding some of Sakura's cooking in dogbreath's room. Anything that tastes that bad __**has**__ to smell horrible when it expires.'_

"Do I really ha-"

"Yes" Kiba cut the pinkette off.

Sakura frowned indignantly, and mumbled something along the lines of "so unfair." She turned to her teammate and squeezed her eyes shut. She leaned in at an excrutiatingly slow pace, while Naruto blushed and waited nervously. Eventually their lips met, and Sakura furrowed her brow harder while the whiskered teen shut his eyes also, blushing an even deeper red.

Hinata gave the most hateful glare to Sakura, unnoticed by the others who were focused on the action in front of them. _'That bitch may have gotten a kiss from my Naruto-kun, but I will have the next one! I'll top her! I'll get more than a kiss! And I'll tie her up and make her watch!" _Hinata's mind was wandering into a very dark – and oddly perverted – area, completely forgetting the medic shinobi was being dared to do this to her love.

After a few short seconds passed, Sakura quickly pulled away, and the two were met with the whoops of their friends. Naruto maintained his blush and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, at a loss for words. Sakura went straight to the bottle, not giving the rest of the group time to fluster her with comments and questions. The bottle landed on Lee this time.

"Alright. Lee, truth o-" before Sakura had finished, a Naruto clone barged loudly through the door with a bag in each hands.

"Hey boss, I got the sake!" the clone exclaimed proudly, raising the bags. Everyone looked towards him.

"Hey Naruto, how did you manage to get the alcohol?" Choji asked.

"**Duh, **henge" Naruto stated, making it sound as if it were obvious. His guests all sweatdropped. How did none of them think of that before! Not even Shikamaru had thought about it! Or perhaps he did, but just found it too troublesome. "What the heck took you so long?!" Naruto sounded annoyed.

"I sorta ran into lady Tsunade at the sake shop, and –"

"Shit! She didn't find you out, did she?!" Naruto seemed scared. He knew how hard that woman hit. Next to ero sennin, he was her second favourite punching bag, and was constantly on her bad side for calling her baa-chan. It didn't take much to give her a reason to send him through the nearest and thickest wall.

"Course not! I was henged as Kakashi-sensei the whole time, so I just kinda pretended to be reading his book to avoid eye-contact or starting up a conversation." The clone smirked and chuckled at his genius.

"Great! Now we can get this thing started!" Naruto cheered with his hand in the air, as the clone started passing out cups and the sake. After everyone had a drink (except for Lee of course) the game resumed. Lee streaked around the apartment building, Tenten took her hair out of her buns, Naruto admitted he once let a man fondle him in sexy-jutsu form (training isn't free you know), which sent shivers down everyone's spines, Shikamaru admitted he liked Temari (much to Ino's disappointment), and Tenten had to kiss Neji (much to Tenten's excitement).

By now, the liquor had started to loosen them all up. It was Tenten's turn, and her target was Ino, who chose truth. "Who do you think has the most… _useful_ jutsu in the bedroom?" Tenten wriggled her eyebrows suggestively, causing the blonde to blush, while the guys all started yelling out what they wanted her to pick.

"Partial-expansion jutsu!"

"You'd be surprised by what I can do with my shadows."

"There are many nerves on the body which can cause extreme pleasure, and the gentle fist can stimulate _any_ of them."

"Come on, sexy-jutsu! It's got **sexy** in the freaking name!"

"…I'm sure shadow clones could be very fun too…"

"Yeah! Thanks Hinata!"

"What about dynamic marking!"

"…"

Everyone stared in complete silence at Kiba as if he were an alien. Nobody wanted to know what kind of stuff he was into, and **nobody** wanted the mental image of Kiba giving one of them a golden shower.

Ino admitted she liked the thought of the partial-expansion jutsu. Choji grinned triumphantly, while the rest of the boys gave an indignant pout and mumbled things like "dumb blonde," and "it's not the size that counts."

Ino reached for the bottle, and gave it a firm twist of her wrist. It slowed and came to a halt in front of Hinata.

"Truth or dare Hinata?"

"Dare."

Ino, remembering Hinata's suffering watching Sakura's dare earlier, decided to do the poor girl a _favour_. She gave the lavender-eyed girl a wide, toothy smile that promised something either really good or really bad – it was anyone's guess which.

"O-k then~" Ino sang in an eerily happy voice. Before continuing, she got up and walked towards a cd player Naruto had on his dresser across from Ino. "I dare you-" Ino dragged out her words, looking through Naruto's cd's, "to give Naruto-" _'please say a kiss, please say a kiss, please say a kiss' _Hinata mentally chanted with every fiber of her being as Ino seemed to find a cd that was to her liking and popped it into the player, "-a lapdance." Ino pushed the play button and 'Use Me' by Hinder began to blast on its speakers.

Hinata's eyes were wide, as were Naruto's. The blue-haired kunoichi would have literally jumped out of her clothes and into her crush's lap that second if it weren't for all the other people around. However, the sake had already lowered her inhibitions pretty well, so Hinata quickly gathered some courage and prepared to perform her dare. _'Time to show that bubblegum hair bitch Naruto-kun is mine.'_ The heiress quickly downed what was left in her cup and stood up.

She put on the most seductive smile she could muster as she walked slowly up to Naruto with a tantalizing sway in her hips. When she made it to the blonde, she grabbed his hand, motioning for him to get up and then leading him to the chair Ino had so helpfully shoved behind him. The heiress stopped in front of the chair. She pressed her hand on the boy's chest, softly pushing him down into the chair, bending down as she did so to give her crush a direct view of her cleavage. After he was in the chair, she stood straight up again, only to squat down quickly. The dancing Hyuuga then began to rise very slowly, her ass in the air as her hands slowly grazed up her smooth, milky legs during her ascent. Naruto found no further need for eyelids, as he was unable to blink his wide eyes, lest he look away from the sight in front of him for even a split second.

The rest of the boys were in shock as well, having never seen this side of Hinata before. They were surprised enough that she would actually go through with the dare, but she looked so _sexy_ doing it to! They all just sat there, wide eyed with gaping mouths. Jiraiya's most perverted smile was plastered up against Naruto's window, his nosebleed streaming down the glass. Even the girls were shocked, but were not staring at her like the boys were.

Hinata continued to twirl and shake around in front of Naruto. With a flip of her hair, she turned to look directly at him as she stepped to where he was seated, giggling to herself at his dumbstruck trance. She lowered herself onto him and began grinding against him erotically. He went stiff as a board – _everywhere_ – much to Hinata's amusement. The lusting girl grabbed the edges of her low cut tank top and pushed her round breasts together, mere inches from Naruto's face. He had seen much of the world on his two year trip, but this was by far the most spectacular sight he had laid eyes on.

The guys by now all had massive nosebleeds except Neji. Neji had a small nosebleed. Jiraiya was scribbling sloppy notes onto a pad without looking, unable to divert his eyes from what was going on on the other side of the window before him. The girls were actually cheering Hinata on with whistles and encouragements. Ino stopped to giggle at the look on Naruto's face. Tenten actually got up and started throwing ryo (Naruto currency) at Hinata.

The lavender eyed temptress caught a few of the bills in her left hand, and brought them up to Naruto's mouth. She placed her free hand on his cheek, rubbing her way down to his chin. She then pushed his still gaping mouth shut on the money. Hinata slowly leaned down to his face. Their lips were barely apart, when she bit down on the money and pulled away, teasing the whiskered teen. She shot her head back with her tip in her mouth, once again leaving her gorgeously plump tits on display right in front of his face as the song ended.

The girls all clapped and whistled. The guys were suddenly mute. Jiraiya looked to his artist's work, giving him a thumb's up to indicate that he would be using the picture he had drawn of the scene for his next novel's cover. The artist gave him a somewhat creepy smile. He wore a tight black outfit exposing his midriff and had a katana sheathed on his back. His skin was nearly as pale as an albino, though his hair was a chestnut brown. He was a sweet kid, about Naruto's age, but very socially awkward. Apparently he was in the ANBU too.

Kiba was the first one to break the awkward silence after the girls' cheering had died out. "Man, how come Naruto keeps getting all the good ones!" Kiba was very disgruntled. Was it too much to ask for someone to give **him** a lapdance, or at least a kiss?

"Quiet boy! Or no treat for you!" Sakura jested. At this everyone broke back into laughter, ending the awkwardness. Naruto and Hinata snapped out of their trance, remembering that there were other people in the room. They got out of the position they had been frozen in and returned to their former spots.

"Hey, I don't need your damn permission to have something to eat!" To make his point, Kiba reached out into one of the bowls of chips scattered across the room along with other snacks, and grabbed a handful. Before he could bite down on it though, it was snatched out of his hand by Neji.

"What he we told you about no people food!" Neji teased the boy with his usual smirk, the dog boy growling through clenched teeth, absolutely seething with fury. His growls were drowned out by the hysterical laughter of the rest of the room though.

After the teenagers managed to remember what they were doing, Hinata took her turn and spun the bottle. Coincidentally enough, it landed on a very nervous Naruto.

"Truth or dare?" Hinata giggled when he began to sweat, presumably out of his still present awkwardness, or possibly… arousal?

"Uh… t-truth?" Naruto said with uncertainty.

Hinata was a bit upset that he had not picked dare, she could have had so much more fun with him. Then she decided to ask him the one question she desperately wanted the answer to. "How was it?" the heiress inquired in her more sultry voice.

"W-w-what?" Naruto stammered, shifting in his spot slightly, which did not go unnoticed by Hinata.

"The dance. How was it?" she repeated. Even Hinata was surprising herself with the amount of courage she was given by the sake in her system. She wasn't drunk, maybe a bit tipsy, but there was still no way in hell she would be able to talk so calmly about such things to her Naruto-kun sober, especially with all their friends around them. With the way Naruto was stuttering and blushing beet red, she believed it was more likely that they had switched bodies without her knowing.

"Oh… it w-was… w-well… I g-guess it was… uh…..hot…" Naruto's voice trailed off in his embarrassment, and the last word was a barely audible squeak. But Hinata heard it, and it was all she needed to hear.

Perhaps there was still some hope for tonight.

* * *

**A/N:** And that's the first part of Naruto's sleepover! Hope you enjoyed reading! Sorry if there are any Kiba fans out there, I don't have anything against the character, the Kiba teasing just sorta happened, it's just where the story led me! But hey, you got some NaruSaku makeout action, a lapdance, some drinking, and even an appearance by Sai! (if you don't know where he showed up, I have failed) What more could you want?

Btw, didn't really know how to go about the lapdance scene. I've never really been to a stripclub or anything, so I sorta just had to let my imagination combine with my knowledge of 80's hair metal music videos to try and think some up. Hope it turned out good. Let me know in the reviews!

**REVIEW, FAV, FOLLOW, OBEY!**


	4. Chapter 3: The Sleepover Part 2

**A/N: Yo! Sorry for the longer than usual wait, sorta procrastinated, and I was having a bit of trouble starting the chapter off. But now here you have it, the epic conclusion to The Sleepover: Part 1 – The Sleepover: Part 2! Watch as the rivalry between Sakura and Hinata rages on, witness the amazing effects of alcohol on the teenage mind, find out why Naruto has always seemed a bit slow, and discover things you probably did not want to know about the kyuubi's sexual preferences! But before I start, I just wanted to respond to a couple of reviewers that could help clarify some things for all of you:**

**Dragonlover753****: I would actually like to thank you. I was having trouble figuring out how to start off the chapter, the only part I really had planned out was the final scene. You mentioning Sakura and Hinata's rivalry actually gave me most of the idea's for the first half of the chapter! **

**Dbtiger63:**** Sorry to say this, but you're probably not going to like this fic too much. I will not be focusing on or really developing a NaruHina relationship. This fic was meant as an upbeat humor focusing on Hinata's attempts to get Naruto, and will resolve with her doing so. I don't really see where there is to go afterwards except New Lemon city, New Lemon (The REAL city that never sleeps ;) ) without completing changing the tone of the fic into something different. I do not feel like just writing a straight up porn fic at this point, and I think it would be awkward to just completely lose consistency in this fic just for the sake of continuing it. I am sorry, but if anyone could help by suggesting a decent idea I could run with for perhaps a sequel with them in a relationship, I might consider it.**

**But for now, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own JACK SHIT (or at least that's what my dad says…)**

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Kyuubi thoughts'**_**/"Kyuubi speech in mindscape"**

* * *

The sleepover continued into the night. After a few more rounds of the game, the shinobi grew bored of their game of truth or dare. The teens dispersed from their circle and began to engage themselves in various other activities. Many of the gang, who by now were being affected by the sake, had the idea of playing some drinking games. Naruto's kitchen table had been set up for beer pong, where Naruto and Sakura were facing off against Shikamaru and Choji. Music enveloped the room from the cd player, and some of the ninjas were dancing along. Lee was lying on the couch unconscious, his face covered in black marker. He had gotten into some of the sake earlier while no one was looking, and it took Shikamaru holding him down with his shadow possession and Ino knocking him out with some Yamanaka technique to save Naruto's apartment from being demolished. Since then, the teens had been taking turns using the spandex-wearing ninja's face as their personal canvas.

After a lengthy conversation, Tenten and Ino split up. Tenten left to grab a confused Neji from the small crowd of people spectating the beer pong game, and dragged him to the clear area the teens were using as a dance floor. Ino watched with a proud smile, as she turned to walk towards one of her other friends, Hinata. She walked to the side of the room where the female Hyuuga was idly shuffling to the music and shooting periodic glances to her crush. Ino noticed the look in her eyes when they fell upon the orange loving shinobi made her seem to be in deep thought. There was a profound mix of longing, fear, curiosity, and a deep and sincere, whole-hearted lo… Ok, **now** she was just shamelessly checking him out. A mischievous grin formed on the Yamanaka's face as she approached the blue haired heiress.

"Hey Hina! What're you doing over here all on your own?" Ino asked, gazing at the Hyuuga curiously.

"Oh, I was just listening to the music." Hinata's response was very unenthusiastic, and her attention seemed to be elsewhere.

"But why all alone? Come on, why don't you go and ask Naruto for a dance?" the Yamanaka nudged her friend's arm, brows raised knowingly.

Hinata snapped back to attention at this. "Oh, I don't know. I am not even sure if he does dance." In all her years of silent stal… follo… spyi… watc… er, _admiring_, completely innocent and normal admiring, she had never seen the blonde jinchuuriki dance. It made sense; why would someone who was never invited to any parties, or even had any possible partner know how to dance?

"Well then, maybe you could just dance **for** him again." Hinata blushed at the memory of her little performance for Naruto less than an hour ago while Ino giggled like a schoolgirl.

"I-I don't think I could do that a-again…" Hinata muttered, her stutter back with a vengeance. In the hormonal depths of Hinata's mind, she honestly did not mind giving Naruto that lap dance. It was completely worth it to see the boy's reaction. However, in the alcohol-fueled heat of the moment, she had completely forgotten about all the people around them. For Naruto-kun, she would gladly do it again, but she really did not want that kind of attention from the other guys. The pupiless kunoichi had noticed a few stray glances the others had given her, and really did not appreciate them. Hinata did not want the whole shinobi population to think she was easy because of her more erotic attempts to attract her love. "Besides, he is busy playing beer pong with Sakura right now." She couldn't stave off her hopeless frown when she mentioned the name of her rival for Naruto's affection. Ino caught the change of mood and a light bulb lit up in her head.

"You know, if you don't make a move soon Sakura's probably going to take him," Ino stated, shrugging her shoulders and letting out a fake sigh that said 'whatever.' Hinata seemed panicked as she shot her head towards Naruto and Sakura, then back to Ino.

"There's no way! I mean, Sakura would never go out with Naruto!" Hinata blurted in her fear. While she believed what she said was true, the Hyuuga's doubt quickly grew as Ino continued talking.

"Maybe not before, but things have changed. You know how Sakura always goes for the pretty boys, remember Sasuke? Who, by the way, has been gone without a trace for years now. And you have to admit, Naruto has been looking _**fine **_since he returned from his training." Ino found her own thoughts wandering onto the handsome blonde as she formed that last sentence. After catching a bit off drool leaving her mouth, she shook her head and refocused. "Anyway, with Sasuke gone, it's only a matter of time til she moves on and sets her eyes on the hottest piece of meat left in the village – Naruto," the mind-walker lied through her teeth. She knew Sakura well enough to know she wouldn't be falling for Naruto anytime in the future; the two were more like siblings to each other. Besides, despite Ino moving on from her childhood crush, Sakura had not had such an easy time and still missed the traitor terribly. But hey, jealousy is a good motivator. "Just look at them, all buddy-buddy and close over there!" The blonde pointed towards the pair.

In her partially inebriated state, Hinata took every word her friend spoke as gospel. Her lavender eyes burned with a mix of determination and fury. _'I will not lose to that shallow bitch! She had her chance, now it is my turn to take Naruto-kun away from her for good!' _Without another word, she cut through the room, her confidence returning tenfold. The only hitch was she had absolutely no idea what to say or do. All she could do was to wait for an opening to get closer to Naruto.

The beer pong game was still raging as Hinata approached. The members of the gang that were watching were really getting into it. Choji and Shikamaru's team were down to only three cups, while Naruto and Sakura's still had six. The spectators held their breaths as Sakura set up another shot. When the ball bounced off the rim of one of the cups, the reactions varied from disappointed 'aaawwws' to relieved sighs. Choji picked up the ball and shakily raised his arm to line up his shot. Obviously he had had his share to drink. Despite this, after he released the ball, it flew in a perfect arc and landed directly into one of the cups on the opposite side of the table.

The people that were rooting for the Shika-Cho duo let out an excited cheer. Naruto pouted, and picked up his cup. Removing the ping pong ball, he let out a defeated sigh and moved the drink towards his lips. Before it could reach them, however, a green blur flashed by Naruto, spinning him around comically and knocking the cup out of his hand. As he slowed to a stop and struggled to maintain his balance, he watched said green blur promptly rush out of the window. Everyone's eyes darted to the empty couch which once held Lee.

"Shit, this isn't good," Naruto groaned, as he exasperatedly formed his favourite seal. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto called out, as a poof of smoke appeared, revealing one of Naruto's shadow clones. "Alright, just go get Guy, he's probably the only one who's gonna be able to stop him now." The clone nodded in agreement and headed out through the same window. "Alright, let's just leave him to my clone and continue with the game!" Naruto loudly proclaimed with a new enthusiasm, giving a thumbs up and a bright smile. However, no one seemed to be paying much attention. The loud teen sweat dropped at being ignored. Suddenly he tensed up from the sensation of a powerful killing intent right behind him. He turned slowly and fearfully to meet the source – a fuming Sakura, whose chest was drenched in the contents of Naruto's cup of sake.

The medic-nin glared daggers at the now trembling blonde, as the fists she held at her sides shook with barely-contained rage. "NARUTO YOU BAKA! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" she screamed furiously.

Naruto raised his hands in front of his face defensively, staggering back slightly. "It wasn't my fault! It was an accident! Lee knocked it out of my hand, I didn't mean to! Gomen! Gomen!" Naruto grovelled, wishing he had went after Lee himself and left the clone to deal with his infuriated teammate.

"SURE IT WAS! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST PUT THE DRINK DOWN, OR AT LEAST _TRY_ TO MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

"I didn't know he was up! I thought Ino's jutsu would have knocked him out for longer!"

"THIS IS **YOUR** APARTMENT, YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT GOES ON INSIDE IT! YOU KNEW FULL WELL WHAT WAS GOING ON WHEN YOU '_DROPPED'_ YOUR DRINK! PERVERT!" Sakura gave Naruto abone-crushing thwap to the head, to which he could only yelp in pain. She turned around, and said a bit more calmly, "I am going to go to the bathroom and try to dry off my shirt," before she stomped towards the bathroom door.

'_That bitch, who does she think she is, hitting Naruto-kun like that! It was not even his fault!'_ Hinata inwardly seethed, but maintained a calm exterior. While she was contemplating going to the bathroom to *_help*_ Sakura, she realized that this was her chance! With Sakura gone, there was a vacancy on Naruto's beer pong team. It was not a huge step, but it would let her get a bit closer to Naruto, even if just for a little while. The heiress willed herself forward with her jealousy and alcohol fueled courage, and stood beside Naruto. "Naruto, if you would like, I could fill in for Sakura while she is gone," Hinata offered in the sweetest tone she could muster, glad that she had not stuttered or fainted or shown any of her old nervous habits. However, she was worried when she was still met with the same amount of attention as she got when she was her old shy self.

Naruto had not said a single word in response. He was not even facing the girl talking to him for that matter. Instead, Hinata noticed his partially glazed-over eyes still following the pink-haired kunoichi on her way to the bathroom. His attentive gaze was unfaltering, laced with heat and lust. The Hyuuga could not accept this. It saddened her and pissed her off to no end. He stared at Sakura as if her top were just going to rip apart like a soggy piece of paper. He stared at her as if she was the only one in the apartment. Hinata would kill for that look.

'_I'm not gonna lose to that bubblegum haired bitch!'_ Hinata thought as she walked around to the other side of her love. Before she could face the whiskered teen again, she *_accidentally* slipped _in the wet spot from his spilt drink. She attempted to grab the table for support, but *_accidentally*_ just knocked the remaining cups on Naruto's side down onto herself.

"Oi Hinata, are you ok?" Naruto asked worried after breaking out of his trance. He offered a hand which Hinata graciously accepted. As the lavender-eyed girl got back to her feet, Naruto's eyes widened at her predicament. Much like Sakura, her entire torso was soaked. The wet tank top clung to her body, accentuating her now glistening mounds. The blonde teen could not help but freeze on the spot, just watching the hypnotizing lumps rise and fall with the kunoichi's breaths. It didn't take long until more of the guys noticed, just as entranced as Naruto.

Kiba let out a loud whistle, breaking the silence. "Wooo! Wet t-shirt contest!" Ino gave him a good hit on the head for that perverted remark.

"Do we have to put a muzzle on you!" she yelled at the dog user, who merely growled lowly in response. This commotion was enough to bring Naruto back to reality.

"Uh… You might wanna dry off your shirt too, Hinata." Naruto awkwardly rubbed the back of his head with one arm trying to separate his gaze from Hinata's assets, but his eyes keep drifting back of their own accord.

"Oh!" Hinata said in faked shock and embarrassment, bringing her feminine hands to her top. "Oh well, I am sure it will air dry. Besides, I was hoping I could play for Sakura while she was busy cleaning herself off," Hinata innocently stated, basking in the attention she was receiving from her crush, completely forgetting about the roomful of other staring boys.

Naruto shook his head in an attempt to make eye contact as he spoke back. "Uh… Yeah, sure, why not," he stammered. The heiress let out a small giggle.

The two continued the game. The only one who was able to concentrate enough to actually hit any cups was Hinata, as the others all seemed very distracted. Each time she did, she made sure to celebrate with a few excited hops and a giddy squeal. Hinata noticed as Naruto's eyes moved up and down in sync with her, much to her amusement.

The blonde knucklehead was quite distracting himself too though, or at least for Hinata. She couldn't help but notice the muscles underneath his jacket as he bent his arm for his shots, wanting nothing more than to feel how strong and hard they were in her hands. From this close, she could practically feel his hot breath as she seemed to drown in those deep blue pools that kept shyly settling back onto her.

Hinata wanted him. And with every drink she took that night, another emotion was wiped from her brain until her entire mind would become assimilated to this desire. But her sense of decency and shame still remained. She wouldn't make any sort of move of an… _indecent_ nature in an apartment filled with her friends. But she had to do _something_! That was the reason she had mustered up so much willpower! The only thing she needed was an actual game plan.

However, before Hinata could think of anything to say or do, her eternal rival, Sakura Haruno, stepped back into the room, in a very skimpy set of pink pyjamas. She could not believe the nerve of the girl to be parading around in such a thing, before remembering her chosen nightwear's… _translucency_. _'At least I thought me and Naruto-kun were going to be _alone_ when I packed my clothes… slut…'_

"Hey guys, my shirt wasn't drying off," Sakura began, shooting a quick but piercing glare at Naruto, "so I decided to just change into my pyjamas early." Sakura shrugged. The medic took back her place to finish the game in progress. Hinata reluctantly backed away, wishing Sakura had taken more time – or perhaps just left. Yes, her leaving would be quite nice.

The blue-haired Hyuuga walked back towards Ino with her head low in defeat. Ino immediately threw her arm around her shoulder and smiled. "Nice move Hinata!" Ino giggled quietly. "He's definitely noticed you, hell, he could barely take his eyes off you!" The Yamanaka's expression quickly morphed into a questioning stare. "Why didn't you try anything? You were right there with him, what were you waiting for!"

Hinata meekly replied, "I didn't know what to do. I could not think of anything."

Her friend noticed the heiress's downtrodden look and adopted a more supportive tone. "Don't worry so much, just do what feels natural! Why don't you just tell the lughead you like him and ask him out?"

Hinata's face drooped even further. "I have tried to, but I still cannot tell him how I feel. It feels as if all my old fears and insecurities just concentrated themselves into my fear of him rejecting my feelings. The thought of confessing to him is the one thing left that makes me feel like my old shy and scared self," she responded glumly to her loud friend. Ino merely gave a smirk that made Hinata very nervous.

"Well then, if you can't _tell_ him how you feel, why not just _show_ him, eh?" the ponytailed blonde proposed, moving her eyebrows suggestively.

Hinata caught her drift, immediately sporting a thick blush and wide eyes. "Nani!? I-I could never do…._**That**_with everyone here! What if s-someone saw us! Neji nii-san is here! What would he do if he f-found out!"

"Don't worry so much Hinata." Ino merely waved off Hinata's worries. "Between the loud music, all the other people and the sake, these drunk bakas wouldn't even notice the two of you disappear for a quick _naked lap dance_." Ino winked slyly. "Besides, are you just going to wait until billboard-brow does?" Hinata urgently turned her head to the aforementioned kunoichi. Ino grinned victoriously; she had her now. "I mean, look at what she's wearing! She's **obviously** trying to seduce him."

To the half-drunk teen, this made more sense than gravity. She would definitely **not** let Sakura have her Naruto-kun! Her resolve was only hindered by her fear of being caught in the act, and what Neji might do to Naruto if he found out. She had a feeling there would be no encore performance if that happened…

"I don't know; it is still really risky. Maybe I could try another night…"

"NO! If you say that now, you're always gonna use that same excuse; you have to actually take action for once!" Ino's gaze drifted past the flustered girl in front of her for a second. After a couple seconds, she looked back at her with a pleased glint in her eye. "Besides, Tenten took my advice, and I don't think **she** regrets it." Her eyes drifted again, and this time Hinata followed them.

Her eyes fell upon a partially open bathroom door, from which Tenten's head popped out and then quickly retreated. What Hinata saw next shocked her like a thousand chidoris. A mere second after, the weapon specialist fully exited the bathroom, with her cousin Neji Hyuuga in tow! _'Could she be saying that… they… no, no way!'_ She truly could not believe it. Upon closer inspection of the two, it was easy to notice the sheen of sweat coating their bodies, and their satisfied yet exhausted expressions. Not to mention Tenten's hair was sloppily sticking out of her buns and Neji's low ponytail was completely undone.

What Hinata found even more surprising than the fact that her stick-in-the-mud cousin had gotten laid was the fact that Ino was right – no one, not even she, had noticed the two enter the bathroom together or heard a single sound of what went on inside of it.

"I guess… it could work…" Hinata muttered, still a little unsure.

"Of course it will! Aside from the fact that the rest of the guys are over, it's the perfect opportunity! You're in his apartment, sleeping the night, and he's gonna be way too plastered to possibly resist!"

That's when Hinata realized the real flaw in this plan. "But I could never take advantage of Naruto-kun like that! It just wouldn't b-"

"Advantage?! What advantage?! You'll be just as hammered as he is!" Again, this almost made **too much** sense to the half-drunk Hyuuga. She had been keeping up with his pace of drinking throughout the night, enjoying both the feeling of rebellion she was not accustomed too and the extra courage the sake gave her. "Besides, I saw you eyeing him just as much as he was you, if not more. I **know** you want to." Again, all valid points. Just thinking of the things she wanted to do to him sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine. Once the flame of her fantasies was lit, there was no distinguishing it except with _relief_. And she didn't want it to come from her own hand this time. Hinata **had** to do this. She **would** do this. She would do **him**.

But first, she would have a little bit more liquid courage while she waited for the right opportunity.

* * *

The sleepover continued in the same manner for the next couple of hours. The teenage shinobi continued their drinking, dancing, and of course a few fell victim to the hidden leaf's number one prankster. The look on Kiba's face every time he would reach for his cup of sake and end up grabbing a dog dish was priceless. By now things were cooling down. Ino and Sakura were braiding each other's hair, while Choji and Naruto were settling once and for all who can eat more ramen. The rest of the gang were either enjoying the remainder of the nights sake, chatting, listening to music, or watching Choji and Naruto's duel with a gaping mouth and a queasy stomach. Except for Shikamaru of course, who had decided to hit the hay early, and now lied in his sleeping bag in Naruto's living room.

After opening the fridge to find that it had been depleted of cup ramen, Naruto and Choji had to call their challenge a draw. Naruto let out a mighty yawn and burp combo, something previously unheard of by the shinobi, and expressed his fatigue. A lot of the others agreed that they too were tired, and maybe it was time to call it a night. A few of them were still filled with a little drunken energy and were bugging the others to stay up a little longer. Naruto payed them no mind, and announced he was going to his room to retrieve and change into his sleepwear.

_Ding_

If Hinata had had any more to drink, she may have missed it. It was her chance. It may be her last chance that night too. She would not miss it.

With speed that could rival the late fourth hokage's Hinata bolted to her bag, grabbed it tightly, and dashed to the bathroom before anyone could even see a blur. Once inside, she opened the bag and reached for her sheer nightgown. As she changed, dirty thoughts went racing through her lustful mind.

'_Ok, stay calm, just stay calm… OH MY GOSH! I can't believe I'm doing this! This is going to happen, I will not back down now! Just need to get changed, then head over to his room and… I hope he likes how I look in this….. I hope he likes how I look _**without**_ this too, heehee… I wonder what __**he **__will look like naked… Well, without being photo-negative with those goddamn blue streams running through him. Crappy byakugan vision… Ooooooo, I wonder what he'll do to me! Oh Kami, I think I drank a bit too much, I might just jump him as soon as I get in the room… He's had quite a bit of sake as well, what if __**he **__jumps __**me**__! Throws me to the bed, and just ravishes me! Oh, please Kami!'_ Hinata whispered a very quiet, very inappropriate prayer to whatever deity would listen. With the revealing chemise on, Hinata turned to take a quick look in the mirror. Before she exited the bathroom, one final thought rang in her mind. _'Oh yeah. __**Definitely **__hotter than hubba-bubba head.'_

Hinata opened the door cautiously, then practically flew the very short distance from Naruto's bathroom to his room, clutching her bag to her chest to avoid being seen in the lewd nightgown.

* * *

As Naruto rummaged through the messy heap of clothing in his closet for a pair of pyjamas, only one thought was going through his mind.

'_Man, does the kyuubi's healing ability need to filter _every_ toxin outta my body? I couldn't even enjoy the sake I got, I'm not even freakin' buzzed!'_

'_**Trust me kit, it's overrated. You already manage to make an ass out of yourself so well sober, plus you would just feel like shit in the morning. Besides, you are **_**really**_** gonna want to remember tonight, kit.'**_The kyuubi chuckled lowly, very uncharacteristic for him.

'_Huh? Why do you say that?'_ Naruto asked his tenant warily.

'_**Oh, you'll find out soon kit.' **_The nine tailed demon let out an even longer, louder chuckle. It seemed very amused by Naruto's cluelessness and it irked his container to no end. Naruto decided to just ignore him for now; he knew he was not going to get an answer out of him.

The blonde jinchuuriki was so preoccupied with his conversation with the kyuubi that he missed the soft sound of his bedroom door opening. Through the open door stepped a very anxious Hinata, whose gaze was met by the back of her fully-clothed crush. _'Yay, looks like I didn't miss the show!' _the intoxicated heiress observed, wearing a perverted grin reminiscent of the legendary toad sennin's. Hinata silently set down her bag and shut the door.

Or at least the drunk Hyuuga **thought** she was silent, though apparently the blonde heard her and immediately turned around.

"Hinata, what're you doing in here?" As Naruto looked to the blue-haired girl, his eyes bugged out when he realized what she was wearing. The lavender nightgown left very little to the imagination, and he could see her underwear very clearly through the material. Hinata was planning on going without it, but figured it would take too long for her to fumble around with her bra clasp in her inebriated state, and she did not trust her hand anywhere near her womanhood with the thoughts going through her mind while she was changing. Hey, at least they matched.

"I want you," the heiress bluntly slurred out, uninhibited thanks to the alcohol in her system.

"What did you want me for?" Naruto questioned, attempting to keep eye contact.

The heiress began approaching the clueless teen with clumsy, staggered steps which were intended to be seductive and alluring. "No. I _want_ **you**," Hinata restated slowly, her tone becoming hungry.

"Hinata, are you ok? What're you do-" Naruto was silenced by a finger to his lips and a shush from Hinata. The heiress placed a small hand onto the jinchuuriki's chest, and gently pushed him down onto his bed, letting herself fall on top of him. Naruto's body no longer put up any fight and his mind was blank, now knowing what was happening. He was only brought back by the smell of sake on his seductress's breath. _'Of course. That's why…'_

"Hinata, please stop, we shouldn't being doing this. You're drunk, this isn't r-" He was once again silenced by the same finger on his lips and a quiet shushing sound. Hinata removed her finger and began moving her head in, her body desperately yearning to claim his lips with her own.

* * *

**Inside Naruto's Mindscape**

"**Stop fighting it kit, just let it happen. Trust me, you'll enjoy it," **the kyuubi coaxed his host.

"No, I can't! Can't you see she's drunk you stupid fox! This isn't right, I can't take advantage of Hinata like that, she'd hate me."

The kyuubi let out a frustrated sigh, mumbling something along the lines of **'stupid brat.'** **"You know, if you're gay you can just admit it, kit. I won't judge you."**

"HEY! I am **not** gay!"

"**Don't get so defensive, you know I can't tell anyone anyway. Besides, what straight man would throw away such a hot piece of ass on top of him, practically begging for it?"**

"I am **not **gay! I just don't want to take advantage of my friends like that!"

"_**Sure**_**, that's why your first kiss **_**wasn't**_** with Sasuke." **The nine tails' voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Naruto was becoming more angry and frustrated by the second. "THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

"_**Sure**_**, that's why you **_**didn't**_** slip any tongue into the kiss."**

"I DID NOT!"

"**Yeah, just like you **_**didn't **_**check out his dick when he took a leak the time you two had your hands stuck together by that jutsu."**

"I DID NOT! I was just… comparing…" Naruto's rage gave way to embarrassment for a second as he looked away and his voice drifted off near the end of his last sentence.

The kyuubi was inwardly laughing his ass off, and had to fight back a grin. The kid just made it too fun to mess with him. **"Whatever, if you're not gonna do anything, I might as well enjoy the view." **The giant fox turned his head around, and the room was filled with loud licking and grunting noises.

"Hey! What're you doing!?"

The kyuubi turned back. **"Well, your leg is too small to hump kit, so this is pretty much the only way I can get myself off in here."** The fox once again turned around to resume his actions, attempting to ignore his jailor.

"WHAT!? Stop doing that! Are you listening to me!? Stop doing that; that's disgusting! The fuck!"

The demon let out an annoyed growl and turned again. **"Can you shut up kit? You have a REALLY annoying voice. Could you give me a minute, I was almost there."**

"YOU ARE NOT GOING TO JIZZ INSIDE ME! ! !" the blonde screamed.

"**What, you want me to pull out?"**

"Oh, ha-ha, you disgusting fox! You're inside my goddamn mind, I don't want you doing that kind of stuff in here!"

"**I don't see what the big deal is kit, you never have a problem when I shit or something in here."**

"Well that's diff – NANI!?" The kyuubi merely point a clawed finger to the corner of his cage, the floor of which was covered in the fox's excrement. "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SHITTING IN THE CORNER OF THE CAGE!"

"**Well duh, everyone knows you're supposed to shit in the corner; if I just did it everywhere I would have to walk around in it shithead." **The nine tails could not help but snicker at the name.

Naruto was fuming, growling through clenched teeth. "You know what I mean! Why are you shitting inside of me!"

"**Because that's how the body works: you eat, you shit. And you know I can't just leave to do my business," **the fox stated matter-of-factly.

"Hey, don't get smart wi – WAIT, WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN EATING?! YOU'RE INSIDE MY HEAD!"

"**What do you think?" **

"I don't know, there's nothing in here except my mind!"

"**Exactly."**

"…" Naruto just stared with an angry and expectant look, waiting for the fox to clarify.

The only thing the kyuubi did was let out a big sigh. **"Sometimes, kit, you make me think I eat too much. Now if you'll excuse me, a little bit of privacy would be nice."**

"I told you you're **not **doing that in there! Why are even doing this; you're a goddamn fox! Why would you find a human attractive?!"

"**What are you, a nun? The whole interspecies thing is totally HOT. Come on, like you've never thought of hooking up with a sexy little vixen."**

"EW! No way would I ever even **think** of doing anything with a freakin' fox!" Naruto cringed at just the thought.

"**Oh come on, even a prude like you couldn't pass up some of the hot tail I've seen in my days while I was free. You should have seen the last vixen I mated with before I was trapped in you. That shiny red coat, a slender tail that seemed to go on for days, and that ass… Here, why don't I show you." **Before he could protest, the jinchuuriki's mind was scarred on every possible level as he was bombarded with images of the nine tails' mating repeatedly, with various seemingly unconsenting vixens…

* * *

**Back In the Outside World **

Seemingly no time had passed during Naruto's inner conversation with the kyuubi, and Hinata was still going in for the kill. Her mouth was inches away from his as Naruto received the most unpleasant of mental images being forced upon him. The whiskered teen became exceedingly nauseous, and simply could not stomach it. Seconds before the two teens' lips could connect, Naruto vomited all over his admirer.

Puke is definitely a mood killer.

When Hinata realized what she was covered in, she too reflexively emptied her stomach of the night's sake onto her crush. Naruto tried to cover his face, but could not keep it completely clean with the girl so close to it.

"Oh my kami Hinata I'm so sorry!" the blonde apologised in a panic. "Just wait here; I'll get something to clean you off with!" Naruto then dashed out of the room, only to return ten seconds later with his hands full of towels. However, when he got back, he found Hinata had already passed out on his bed. The spiky-haired teen sighed. _'Well, that's probably for the best.'_

Naruto proceeded to wipe the puke off them both, and allowed Hinata to stay sleeping in his bed for the night. Naruto went to the bag Hinata had dropped by the door, and borrowed her sleeping bag for the night.

It was going to be an interesting morning.

* * *

**A/N: And that's a wrap! Hope you enjoyed, hope you got some laughs, and I hope you FOLLOW/FAVE/REVIEW! I did my best, and hopefully the next chapter doesn't take as long as this one did. Find out what happens the next morning, and just how far Hinata will go to get her love in the next chapter!**

**Also, I've been getting idea's for a couple of other oneshots. One is for a sappy, heartwarming one about how Naruto started his addiction to Ichiraku's Ramen, and another one is for another funny one, except about Sasuke returning to the leaf. Let me know which you would rather see first, or if you think they are both stupid ideas, in the REVIEWS! I don't plan on making them right at this moment, but if you ever notice me taking longer to write the next chapter of this fic, that may be why, so check if I've uploaded one.**

**P.S. If anyone knows how to double up on puctaution (eg: end a sentence with muliple exclamation marks for emphasis) PLEASE tell me in the reviews or pm me, it would be really appreciated. It is getting REALLY annoying that every time I try to do this it always erases it once its uploaded, I've even attempted editing it in afterward in the doc manager, but it STILL reverts back. Ugh!**

**PEACE!**


	5. Chapter 4: Icha Icha Birthday

**A/N: Yo! I'm back, with the newest edition of Take A Hint: Icha Icha Birthday! Had fun writing it, hopefully you guys have fun reading it! Feel free to give me feedback, constructive critism, ideas, or just tell me your favourite parts in the REVIEWS! Shamelessly self-promote, post your suicide note, ask me out, write out a recipe for a delicious quiche, any and all reviews are welcome!**

**Just a note: Second half takes place after the whole 'Gaara Rescue Mission' or whatever you wanna call it. Just assume that happens in between, during the period when they are busy with missions. Just REALLY wanted to give Sai ONE (mental) line in one scene, totally worth it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not claim copyright on Naruto or any of its characters; that is my nindo, my ninja way!**

"Speech"

'_thoughts'_

'_**kyuubi thoughts'**_**/"kyuubi speech in mindscape"**

Book Title

* * *

"….Uuuuuuugggghhhhhhh….."

Hinata's hoarse voice joined the chorus of hungover shinobi awakening inside Naruto's apartment. The sleepover last night had taken a lot out of all of them, between the drinking, dancing, and restraining Lee. Most of the night was just a blur for most of the shinobi, and it showed in the surprise and confusion many of them shared after discovering their sleeping arrangements. Some of the gang managed to make it to their sleeping bags before their drowsiness overtook them, however many others had succumbed to their tiredness in some more… _interesting_ positions.

For example, Shikamaru woke up with his head in a puke-filled toilet, while Choji discovered that his pillow was in fact a half-eaten pizza. Neji was taken by surprise when he opened his eyes to be greeted by the sleeping face of Tenten, however quickly adjusted and rested in their shared sleeping bag for a while longer. Kiba had somehow ended up in a dog cage – Naruto didn't even have a dog, where did this even come from! Oh, the dog breeder was going to get the others back for this. He was so angry that he did not even notice that his hitae-ate was missing, and had been replaced with a dog collar bearing a tag with the village symbol etched onto it. Not to mention Lee, who was extremely shocked to find himself in Guy's room, awkwardly spooning his sensei. As the green beast's clone looked around, he could not help but note how… _youthful _the décor was. The bed was shaped like a racecar, his bookshelves and nightstand littered with old action figures and decks upon decks of Pokemon cards, and multiple rc cars covered the floor. This man had some serious issues.

However, the shock any of the others' experience paled in comparison to Hinata's as she woke up in the unfamiliar setting. As she fluttered her sensitive eyes open, squinting them to withstand the onslaught of the morning sun, she realized she was not in her room. This did not scare her much, as she quickly remembered that she had gone to a sleepover at her crush's apartment. What **did** confuse her was why she felt as if she were sleeping in an actual bed, rather than the sleeping bag she had packed for the night. She bolted upright at this realization and took in her surroundings. _'This must be Naruto-kun's bedroom. But then that means I'm in… Naruto-kun's bed!'_ Hinata's throbbing head swelled with thoughts and emotions, from fear to curiosity, to confusion, to anxiousness, and everything inbetween. As the heiress pondered her situation, disjointed pieces of last night's events came back to her. The lapdance, the sake, her cousin getting laid…. _'ew'_ …. She could recollect talking to Ino about something, something she was going to do…. _'OH MY KAMI'_ Hinata thought. Did she do what she thought she did? She looked to both sides of the bed, but to her slight relief (but mostly disappointment) it was empty except for herself.

As the blue-haired kunoichi released a let-down sigh, she heard a loud yawn coming from beside the bed. Hinata leaned over the edge of the bed to see her love waking up in a sleeping bag beside his own bed. As his eyelids revealed his hypnotizing blue orbs, he looked straight up at her and gave her a heartwarming smile. "Morning Hinata" the blonde cheerily said.

"Ano, morning, Naruto-kun…" Hinata paused awkwardly, not sure what to say, but soon her curiosity took over. "Um… Why are you in my sleeping bag, and why am I in your bed?"

The whiskered teen gave his classic sheepish smile while a hand rubbed the back of his head. _'I guess she doesn't remember what happened.'_ Naruto thought for a while about how to proceed. He decided it was probably best if he excluded last night's intoxicated mishap in order to spare any awkwardness. Naruto did not want Hinata feeling embarrassed over some drunken mistake, or worse, hating him for thinking he had tried to take advantage of her last night. "Well, you sorta passed out on my bed, and I didn't wanna wake you, so I just borrowed your sleeping bag. I hope you don't mind," the jinchuuriki explained, omitting the events leading up to the Hyuuga's blackout.

Hinata told him it was ok, and apologized for taking his bed, despite the Uzumaki's claims that he really did not mind. Still, Hinata could not help but feel down, afraid she had made a fool of herself during the sleepover.

After getting dressed, the sleep-deprived ninjas gradually made their way out of the apartment, many saying that they should do this again. The group split up to head to their own homes and prepare for the day's training.

* * *

Most of the Jonin sensei's were forced to call off training early due to the condition of their worn out students. This came as a huge relief to most of the teens, especially Hinata and Kiba, who both wanted to avoid the awkward conversation with their other teammate who was sulking over being left out yet again. The only exception was Rock Lee, who was currently being punished for his 'unyouthful actions' by Gai. Ironically enough, his punishment was just a lengthened version of his usual training routine.

Some of the teens went home to rest, while others went to grab lunch. Hinata simply wandered around the village, focused on last night's events. Her memories had been slowly returning to her throughout the day. The lavender-eyed girl could now remember how she had ended up in her secret crush's bed. Thinking back on it, it saddened her greatly how the night had ended. It seemed as though Naruto did not remember what had happened. Not that it mattered, her dream boy thought that she had just made her move on him because she was under the influence of the sake. He obviously had no idea how she truly felt for him. How much she had truly wanted it.

The female Hyuuga thought about it the entire walk. She remembered the unjustified jealousy she had felt, the embarrassment at how far she had gone, the gross moment when they had vomited on each other, but most of all she remembered the feeling. The feeling of being all alone with her fantasy standing in front of her, the feeling of being so close to him, the feeling of his strong body under her, of their lips as they were about to meet… She wanted that feeling again. She would do anything to feel that again. He was like a drug, and she wanted so much more.

While aimlessly navigating the village, Hinata's feet began walking a familiar route, which led her right by the ramen stand Naruto loved so much. Unsurprisingly enough, the orange clad shinobi was sitting in his usual seat, inhaling a bowl of ramen, when he noticed Hinata walking by in the corner of his eye.

"Hey Hinata!" he exclaimed, waving to the heiress. Hinata couldn't help but smile and waved back. The blonde gestured for her to take a seat beside him, which she happily complied to. "So you guys got the day off too! You hungry?" Naruto asked her.

"Ano, yes," the byakugan user lied. Hinata had already eaten her lunch after running into Ino and Tenten, during which she was grilled for details about her attempted seduction, given a few too many about her cousin and Tenten's _experience_, and given some advice on how to 'get through Naruto's dense skull.'

"Oi, Teuchi! Bring another bowl of miso for my friend here!" Naruto shouted to the chef. "It's on me this time." He gave her one of those wide smiles that usually made her heart throb, but Hinata could only think of one thing at the moment.

"Why are you paying for me, Naruto-kun? I am just fine paying my own bill, you really don't have to."

"Oh, you know, uh… just trying to be more generous, ya know? Don't worry about it, my treat," Naruto nervously responded, ending with a sheepish chuckle. In truth, he had wanted to make up for puking on her the previous night, but was still convinced she did not remember, and didn't want to make things awkward between them if she found out exactly what happened.

Hinata graciously accepted the offer in the end, and the two enjoyed some ramen and conversed. They spoke about the sleepover, Hinata expressing how much she had enjoyed it. However, they both avoided the bringing up what Hinata had tried to do with Naruto, both thinking the other did not remember and wanting to avoid making the conversation uncomfortable. After finishing his fifth bowl of ramen, the full knucklehead turned to Hinata.

"You know, most of the other guys are just staying in today, so there's not many people to hang out with. If you're not busy or anything, did you wanna go do somethin'?"

The pale kunoichi froze. As hopeful as she was though, she could tell her crush did not mean for this invitation to sound like a date. Still, she was flattered to be asked to keep him company, and would definitely not turn this offer down. "Sure, that sounds good."

"Awesome! There anyplace you'd like to go? I've been really bored since they called off training and can't think of anything else to do."

Hinata thought back to Ino's advice earlier that day. She had tried to give Hinata ideas on ways to try to get Naruto more interested in her, and one specific scenario came to mind immediately. A sly grin appeared on her face. "Well, I have been wanting to get some more clothes, and I could really use someone else's opinion." She looked on hopefully to her love.

"Uh, well… As much as I would like to help you shop, I don't really know much about women's clothing. Hell, most people say I have a shitty fashion sense in general. For some reason no one sees how cool orange is!" Hinata could not help but giggle at this. It was then that she decided to pull out another tip from Ino and try flirting with him.

"Really? I think your outfit looks cute," Hinata said in a slightly sultry manner. She raised her hand to graze his shirt down his chest, his face glowing hot pink thinking about how she had been touching him the same way the previous night. "Please come with me?" Hinata put on her cutest pout and saddest puppy-dog eyes. Naruto simply could not refuse.

"Oh, alright, just make sure to keep the receipts in case everyone hates what I pick out!" Naruto joked, earning another giggle from his admirer. Naruto paid for their meals and the two left in the direction of the shopping district.

* * *

The two were walking down the crowded streets of the shopping district, making their way past countless villagers and shinobi alike. The pair was engaged in some light conversation, managing to push aside any uncomfortable feelings caused by the sleepover. Naruto was currently doing his best impression of the time Jiraiya drank too much sake and accidentally made out with a rather feminine man. Hinata was cracking up at this, when she noticed a shop that caught her eye. It was one of Ino's favourite clothing stores, so the heiress new it would have some clothes that would help her catch her crush's eye.

Without a second thought Hinata grabbed Naruto by the arm, savouring the contact, and pulled him hastily into the store.

"Woah, Hinata, what's the rush?" Naruto asked, not this expecting this from the normally reserved girl.

Hinata sheepishly responded, "Oh, sorry. Hehe, guess I'm just excited." _'And hopefully you will be too by the end of this hehe…'_ Naruto just shook his head, not aware Hinata was so into shopping. _'What am I getting myself into…' _he thought. The lavender-eyed kunoichi led him to the women's section, searching through rack after rack of clothes. Every once in a while, Hinata would pick an outfit off the rack and hand it to Naruto, who would simply follow her carrying what she handed him, not knowing what else to do. After Naruto had accumulated a sizeable stack of clothes, Hinata brought him to the changing room area.

She thanked her crush for holding her clothes before grabbing them and heading towards the first vacant change room. "Just wait there, I'll be out in a secnd," she said with a bright smile before closing the door, leaving Naruto by himself.

He did not have to wait long, however, as a minute later the change room door reopened and Hinata stepped back out. "How does it look?" she asked curiously, gauging the blonde's reaction.

Naruto could not tear his eyes away from the sight that greeted them. He looked Hinata up and down in awe. She wore a pair of tight black yoga pants, paired with a sleeveless lavender crop top, which stretched out against the pressure of the heiress' engorged mounds, and was ripped in the back to reveal even more skin and her bra straps.

"It looks… uh… g-great," Naruto stammered, giving a weak thumbs up, not managing to meet Hinata's eyes.

"Are you sure the pants don't make my butt look big?" The pupiless kunoichi turned around and bent over slightly, displaying the body part in question.

For a minute Naruto was speechless. The way the yoga pants hugged her every curve gave the impression it was a second skin, as if her round ass was bare in front of him. He was unable to give a response, as all his willpower was focused on resisting the urge to slap Hinata's rear with vigor.

Hinata was confused and disappointed when she received no answer, until she turned around to see her crush, holding a hand up to his nose to stave off a waterfall of blood and violently shaking his head 'no.' Hinata grew a satisfied grin. _'Definitely buying these' _she mentally decided.

Hinata returned to the change room to get dressed in her next outfit. As she returned to Naruto in various revealing garments, she proceeded in much the same way, questioning and teasing the whiskered teen, paying close attention to his reactions to decipher which outfits he liked best. This proved to be quite difficult though, as the loud and obnoxious boy went all but mute each time she stepped out of the change room. Finally, after several changes, Hinata was down to the pièce de résistance.

"What do you think of this, Naruto-kun?" Hinata called to her crush. When Naruto looked up, he was not expecting the sight that he beheld. In front of him was the former shyest shinobi in konoha, the one who never left her house without the baggiest possible winter coat, in the smallest bikini he had ever seen. There was just enough material to be able to tell it was his favourite color, orange. The top did not even cover the underside of her oversized breasts! Nearly all of her creamy skin was on display, while the beautiful teen casually stood there with only a small tinge of her trademark blush colouring her cheeks. Only one thought went through Naruto's mind. _'I didn't know the leaf village had a beach.' _This was all he had he had the necessary brain power left to think. The rest of his cranial capacity was currently dedicating to preserving the image before him into his permanent memory.

Hinata was very pleased by the reaction she received from her temporary fashion consultant. He did not give a single word in response. Instead Naruto's face burned a darker shade of red than Hinata could ever produce, so dark that the blood that flowed out of his nose like water from a showerhead was not visible until it left his chin. His eyes were wide and unmoving, and Hinata caught the blonde shifting his legs in a subtle attempt to hide the growing bulge inbetween them. That last part **really **pleased her, and with any luck would continue pleasing her later that night.

Hinata turned back and entered the change room for the final time, knowing her crush was not going to be able to give any input anyway. When the door closed between them, blocking them from each other's sight, Hinata wanted nothing more than to activate her doujutsu and get a better view of the growing _reaction_ Naruto was trying to hide. Before she did though, an idea struck. The thought of what she was going to do elicited a mischievous grin from the heiress. She undid her bikini strap, but held the front to prevent it from dropping… yet.

"Oh, Naruto, can you help me? I think the door is stuck!" Hinata lied, feigning worry as best she could.

"Don't worry, I'll try to find someone who works here. Maybe they'll know what t-"

"N-no!" Hinata panicked, obviously this idea was not thought through at all. "I… ano… b-but I am claustrophobic! I need to get out now, please h-hurry and get me out now!" Hinata blurted out, mentally berating herself for acting on such a half-baked idea. Hopefully this impromptu lie would work…

'_What is 'claustrophic'?' _Naruto thought, donning his squinty-eyed face of confusion.

'_**It means she can't be stuck in confined places, kit. You'd better get to her quick before it's too late!'**_ the kyuubi unexpectedly answered his container's question misleadingly.

'_What?! Oh no, I've gotta save Hinata!'_ With that the jichuuriki sprung into action, while his demon merely snickered and thought to itself _**'Too easy.'**_

Hinata stood beside the door of the change room, ready to slam it shut the second her knight in orange armor opened it. However, this moment never came. Instead, she just heard a loud slam, and the enraged shouts of a woman. Apparently, between the distracting clothing and the hero instincts urging him forward, Naruto had forgotten which room Hinata occupied, and had kicked down the wrong door. The woman on the other side had obviously been less receptive than Hinata would have been, as she had blown a fuse and violently chased the 'pervert' out of the store. By the time the blue-haired ninja changed and exited the change room, she was disappointed when she was unable to find the blonde anywhere inside or outside of the store. He had most likely fled the area from embarrassment. Hinata attempted to stay positive; she had spent a lot more time with her love, and had got some clothes she knew Naruto would like out of it. If his reactions to her new clothes were any indication, perhaps he would even begin seeing her more as a woman than just another friend too?

* * *

The following days were not as good as Hinata had hoped. Due to missions, she and Naruto had not seen each other much in over a week. When both were in the leaf village, neither had time to do more than give the other a passing wave when they saw each other on their way to their next destination.

It came as a relief to Hinata when Tsunade had informed her team that she did not have any missions left for them. In fact, the hokage had supposedly granted all three of the former genin squads and team Gai a temporary break from missions, though she did not say why.

The answer to that question came soon after the debriefing though, as team 8 ran into a certain pink-haired shinobi not far from the Hokage tower.

"Yo guys, what's up!" Sakura called cheerily.

"Hey Sakura!" Kiba answered just as happily. "Nice to see ya, we just got outta the Hokage tower. Had to hand in our report on our last mission."

"Great! I just wanted to let you all know that it's Naruto's birthday in three days. We're throwing him a surprise party, and I'm trying to get the whole gang to come!"

"I would love to come." Hinata said.

"I shall attend too." Shino said in his usual monotone, though inside he was happy to not be left out for once.

"I dunno, last time we all hung out together I recall waking up in a cage," Kiba spat out. He crossed his arms and looked away, turning his nose up in discontent.

In a flash, Sakura's face went from joyful to threatening. "Don't make me get your leash and drag you there, dog boy! I got us all some time off from the Hokage for this!" the Hokage's apprentice yelled, fist raised in warning. Kiba nearly pissed himself when he saw the look on her face.

"Okay, okay! I'll come!" the dog breeder exclaimed fearfully.

"Great to hear it. Now if you'll excuse me, I still have to find team Gai. See ya there!" Sakura waved and jogged off. Everyone waved back, with the exception of Kiba, who just let out a sigh of relief when the short-tempered kunoichi left.

* * *

After a celebratory lunch at the diner her team would frequent after a successful mission, Hinata's team split and went their separate ways, leaving Hinata alone with her thoughts. She was ecstatic that she would be able to see Naruto again, but could only wonder, _'What should I get him? Hmm… I wonder if there is some sort of present I could get him that might show him the kind of relationship I wish to have with him. But what could I get him that could show my love for him?' _

Not having anything better to do, the lavender-eyed girl walked off towards the shopping district, brainstorming ideas on the way. However, somewhere between the diner and the shopping district, Hinata found herself walking past the bathhouse, when a peculiar sight drew her out of her thoughts. Out of the corner of her byakugan eyes, Hyuuga spotted the end of a red robe sticking out of a tree beside the bathhouse fence. Hinata knew immediately who the garment belonged to.

"Ero-sennin!" Hinata shouted to the unexpecting voyeur. Jiraiya was scared to be found out; usually when women shouted at him while he was peeping bad things happened. He shot out of the tree, landing on his face. Mumbling and rubbing his sore face, he got to his feet, surprised to see who had so rudely interrupted his _research_.

"Wait a sec, you're one of Naruto's pals, right? For the love of Kami, don't tell me he's got all of you guys calling me that now!" The toad sage was tremendously frustrated. It was bad enough that gaki of a student wouldn't stop calling him that, and now it's catching on? He was seriously going to need to get even with the gaki for that.

"What do you think you're doing, pervert!"

"I'm trying to do some research! Could you keep it down, they'll hear us! Now, if you don't need anything, I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone."

'_The nerve of the man! He's not even going to __**try**__ to defend himself, has he no shame! I can't believe this man actually taught Naruto! The only thing he has ever been able to pay attention to is…' _That's when Hinata got an idea. Who else would be able to give better advice on how to get her crush to take notice of her than the infamous pervy-sage? Perhaps he could give her an idea that would help get a boy's attention?

Before the old lecher could climb back into the tree, Hinata hesistantly spoke up. "Wait. Actually, there is something you could help me with. If you do, I will not continue to interrupt your – _research_," Hinata's voice dripped venom at the word.

Jiraiya let out a sigh of both relief and annoyance. "Fine. What is it you want – Hinata, is it?"

Hinata nodded. "Actually, I was hoping you could give me some advice… On how to get a boy to notice me…"

The sage's mouth formed a lecherous grin, and he let out a quiet chuckle. "Oh really now? Anyone in particular?" the pervert prodded immaturely.

"N-no," Hinata lied. She could not let Naruto's sensei know the boy in question was his own student; she was afraid he would tell him. The heiress definitely did not want her crush to find out about her feelings from this depraved lecher.

"Look, I don't really have much time now, I gotta finish my next novel before its deadline. If you really want the boy to fall for you, take this," Jiraiya said as he fished a book out of his pocket, "Just read through this; it's filled with ideas that should get anybody with a working rod's attention." The lecher giggled with his perverted grin and leaped away, leaving Hinata alone.

The curious girl looked down to the book which supposedly held all the answers to her near-lifelong predicament. Hinata blushed after reading the title of the novel.

Icha Icha Techniques.

Hinata was at a loss for words, yet strangely unsurprised. What else would she expect from the ero-sennin? Intrigue hit the Hyuuga, and she decided to open the book, just to see what all the fuss was about. She began to read the first chapter, attempting to discreetly hide the title of the novel, while continuing to make her way to the shopping district.

The book was unlike anything she had read before, definitely not an acceptable novel for a proper Hyuuga. Hinata could not stop reading it though. Despite being infamous as smut, the storyline proved to rather compelling and intricate, even quite romantic. By the second chapter, she had reached the first adult scene, and it intrigued her even more. Though Hinata did certainly know about the act of sex, the teen had never seen it described so… _vividly_. Neither of her parental figures had gone so in depth in their talks to her about the subject. As the characters continued their lewd deeds, the captivated teen began picturing her and Naruto in their place. _'Oh my… __**that**__ would definitely get Naruto-kuns attention… I wonder if he would actually do that with me… Wow… that sounds __**really**__ hot… I wonder if it actually feels that good… Where would I even buy one of __**those**__?'_

By the time the pervy Hyuuga got to the third chapter, she had gotten into the habit of replacing the lead characters' names with theirs, not even remembering the protagonist's actual name. By the fourth she had forgotten any insecurities she held about reading the book in public, and by the time she read the fifth chapter she had no clue or care for where she was or where she was going.

A while after Hinata had unknowingly passed the shopping district, Kakashi had seen her walking down the street, lost in the same installment of his favourite series as him. He approached the byakugan user, synching their steps together to walk beside her.

"It's nice to see the youth of today enjoying the joys of fine literature," he declared without looking up, giving on of his eye-smiles.

"Hm? Yeah," Hinata responded absent-mindedly, her pupiless eyes never leaving the page.

"Which chapter are you on?"

"Eight."

"Oh, that's a good one. Makes me cry every time." Though she was not paying much mind to the cycloptic jonin beside her, part of Hinata's mind could not help but think _'Cry? But he's __**always**__ reading one of these books, and I have never seen him get at all emotional over it. Maybe that's why he always covers one eye?' _While Hinata read her new favourite novel and pondered the possibility of crying with one eye, the copycat nin continued. "You must have just started reading then, I won't spoil the rest for you. But may I ask what you're doing all the way out in this training ground? I know your team has the day off, and it does not seem like you are training by yourself either."

This broke Hinata out of her trance, her head shooting up in confusion. Indeed, she had walked all the way over to the training grounds, a good mile and a half away from her intended destination. "Oh, hehe, I guess I must have zoned out there…" the heiress confessed, embarrassed for being so caught up in the erotic novel. "Why are you here?" Hinata asked, now curious why the sharingan user was here too, seemingly doing the same thing as she was.

"Oh, I'm just trying to avoid someone."

"Well, um… bye," the Hyuuga awkwardly said, wanting to head back and not really knowing what else to talk about with the team seven leader.

"Bye then, enjoy the book. Oh yeah! And if you run into Gai, tell him I'm too busy training Naruto to do any challenges. And if you see Naruto, tell him I can't train him because I'm leaving for a mission. And if you see Tsunade, tell her I am too sick to go on any missions today. And if you see Sakura, tell her I'm busy helping Anko with something and can't test out her new food pill. And if you happen to run into Anko – tell her I moved – or died on a mission, whichever feels more believable." Hinata sweat dropped, nodding her head in response. Did Kakashi ever do **anything** other than read those wonderful, smutty books? Forget late, it was a wonder the lazy shinobi ever showed up for his team at all. Replace those books with cloud watching, and the man was practically an older Shikamaru.

* * *

**In a Barbeque Restaurant in Konoha**

A lazy Nara was eating with his teammates, when the urge to sneeze hit him. "A – AAh –" However, instead of ending it with a climatic 'CHU!' the pineapple-haired shinobi merely muttered a "troublesome" under his breath, unable to summon the effort to even sneeze.

* * *

As Hinata departed the training grounds, she realised that it was nearly time for dinner. Disappointed she had wasted a day of looking for a gift for her love, she reluctantly walked home before she was late for dinner.

On the way home, while reading the book she had received from Jiraiya and contemplating applying some of the ideas in the book, she got an idea for her gift for the lucky Uzumaki. If she played this right, there was no way even Naruto could miss this hint. Subtlety be damned.

* * *

On October 10, Naruto's apartment was crowded with all his friends and senseis, all waiting for konoha's number one knucklehead to return from his daily pilgrimage to Ichiraku's. All of the konoha 11, their senseis, the new team seven members Yamato and Sai, konohamaru, and Jiraiya had showed up. They were all chatting to each other in the darkened apartment, waiting for the birthday boy to arrive.

Neji deactivated his byakugan. "He's coming! Everyone be quiet!" Neji called out in warning, silencing the room. "Hinata… You can deactivate your byakugan too now…" Despite this, his cousin gave no response, nor showed any signs of stopping anytime soon. Neji just shrugged it off, figuring she was just nervous seeing him like she used to be. However, in the darkness of the room Neji had not noticed Hinata's tomato red blush, or that she was shifting her legs uncomfortably. At the moment, Hinata appeared to be imagining – _blowing out Naruto's candle_. (**A/N:** I'm not sure if that innuendo is awesome or awful – _let me know in the reviews!_ …either way it's soo appropriate for the occasion…)

After entering his door and turning on the lights, Naruto was greeted with over a dozen shinobi yelling "SURPRISE!" Startled beyond belief, Naruto's ninja instincts kicked in and he threw a kunai towards the nearest target. It hit Shino directly in the right shoulder, piercing deep into the skin.

This is why ninjas do not throw surprise parties.

Sakura had to stop Shino's bleeding and rushed him to the hospital. Shino sulked the entire way, nearly in tears, not due to the pain but because he was once again being left out.

After the blonde had realised who the intruders were, he sheepishly apologised for freaking out, and thanked everyone for coming. With that awkwardness out of the way, the festivities began, everyone eating, talking, and having an overall good time. After some time had passed, and Sakura had returned from escorting the bug tamer to the hospital, the others decided to begin handing Naruto their presents.

There were many presents, some expensive, some handmade, some with a lot of thought put into it, and even a couple gag gifts. Tenten had got Naruto a katana from her father's shop, Sakura bought her teammate an Ichiraku gift card, Lee gave Naruto a spandex suit like his only in orange, while Gai gave him a set of leg weights. When it was Kiba's turn to hand his gift to the whiskered shinobi, Naruto opened the box to find a litter box inside, while Kiba joked about his whiskers making him look like a kitten. This earned a roaring round of laughter from the other partygoers, and an irritated growl from the recipient. Obviously he was attempting to take retribution for all the dog jokes he had been putting up with lately. No one could blame him; the teasing had even followed him in his missions, as Kurenai would often give him commands like a dog in the field.

"_Kiba, stay!" "Go, fetch the intel boy!" "Sick 'em!" "C'mon Kiba, give the client a paw!" _It was really becoming too much…

After the laughter had died down, Hinata handed Naruto her gift. It was a smaller gift, a bit larger than a hand, and rectangular. "I hope you like it Naruto-kun. It has lots of new techniques I thought you might like to learn," Hinata told the blonde with a cute smile, though something was a bit off in the way she had said it. Naruto did not notice this though, as he was too excited by the prospect of all the powerful jutsu he could master. A few of the group, such as Neji and Lee, leaned in closer, curious to see what kinds of techniques the hyperactive ninja would be learning.

"Really?! Thanks Hinata, you're the best!" the jinchuuriki proclaimed joyously, beaming in anticipation. He hastily tore through the wrapping paper to find what lay underneath. When the present was revealed, everyone else in the room sweat dropped, while Naruto simply looked confused by the gift.

Hinata leaned in close to Naruto, and said in a seductive voice, "I am available to help you train with the new techniques anytime." This was meant for only Naruto to hear, but the room was so silent that it was clearly audible to everyone, who stood frozen with gaping mouths. Jiraiya and Kiba were leaking blood by the gallons, and judging by Kakashi's now red mask he was also. Naruto just furrowed his brow in further confusion.

"Uh, Hinata… You sure you didn't mix up the books? This is ero-sennin's new novel," Naruto said, holding up a copy of Icha Icha Techniques, puzzled as to why Hinata would get him this or how any of what she said made any sense. However, Hinata shook her head to assure him it was the right book.

Most of the other shinobi face palmed so hard the slapping sound reverberated three blocks away. If Naruto were any more dense, he would create a black hole. Kiba was in tears, mumbling "why him!" to himself, while Kurenai had to pinch herself, not believing the timid girl she had trained since age twelve could ever be so – _forward_. Jiraiya was currently balling his eyes out in Kakashi's arms, both crying out that they had failed as teachers. Gai was covering his favourite student's eyes, while Lee was desperately struggling to pry them off, wanting to find out the title of the legendary sage's book of techniques to buy himself a copy, not wanting to be outdone by Naruto. Sai just stood there with his normal fake smile the whole time, thinking _'Yes, dickless would be the perfect nickname for him.'_ Konohamaru was confused by the spectacle around him, just as ignorant as Naruto and Lee. Naruto was still trying to make sense of this weird gift. _'She knows I don't read ero-sennin's pervy books, and what could she possibly mean by training?' _However, he was unable to figure anything out as his thoughts were drowned out by the sound of the kyuubi banging his head against the bars of his cell.

Once everyone had calmed down, and had agreed Naruto was never going to get the hint, they all continued with the remainders of the presents. Sai had drawn a portrait of their new team, while Ino had got the clueless teen some more fashionable, less orange clothes. Jiraiya had also given Naruto an autographed copy of Icha Icha Techniques, though he made it crystal clear that he would **not** be helping his apprentice practice any of the techniques, furthering the blonde's confusion. Kakashi had purchased a brand new set of – ok, a **used** set of kunai. How cheap could he be? A few of the people beside him had actually seen him pull them out of his equipment pouch just a minute ago! No one could believe the copycat ninja would give his student such a lame gift, but understood after they noticed him holding yet another copy of Icha Icha Techniques behind his back. Figures.

After the rest of the gang gave their gifts, they all moved onto the cake and continued the party.

* * *

The party was over, and all of Naruto's friends had said their goodbyes and went their separate ways home. To say Hinata was disappointed in the outcome of the party was an understatement.

She had greatly underestimated Naruto's denseness. I mean, what does she need to do, rip off her shirt and yell 'Take me now!'? No, as appealing an option as that was at this point, she would never do such a thing, **especially** not in a room filled with all of her comrades and teachers. No, she was a Hyuuga, she still had _some_ decency – though she was definitely going to have to take a more direct approach. It would be so much easier for the heiress if she could just say those three Kami forsaken words – I love you. **I LOVE YOU.** Maybe then she could finally get laid – er, _noticed_. Yes, _noticed_ all over his apartment, crying out his name with her ass in the air like with Riku and Katsumi in chapt – ok, maybe she was reading a _little bit_ too much Icha Icha, it was starting to affect her brain.

What just added insult to injury, however, was that both copies of the book given to Naruto were taken when everyone was beginning to leave. Obviously all eyes went to Kakashi when the ninjas noticed the novels were missing, however everyone quickly abandoned that suspicion after the cyclops reminded them all that he already had three copies of the novel, why would he need to steal more? Still, Hinata could not help but wonder what kind of ass would steal someone's birthday presents during their party.

* * *

**A Street Somewhere In Konoha**

"Oh man, wait til the boss sees all the cool new techniques I learn! I'm sure big brother Naruto won't mind me borrowing his books for a little while, hehe. Besides, by the time I'm done reading them, I'll be able to kick his butt with my awesome new jutsu! Hmm… weird… I think these are some kind of combo attacks; I've never heard of anyone doing **that** in battle though… Maybe Moegi and Udon can help me train!"

* * *

**A/N:** Woo! And that's the end of that chapter! In I didn't make it obvious enough for anyone who took the books at the end, it was Konohamaru. Duh.

Hope you enjoyed! If you did, **REVIEW/FAVE/FOLLOW/TWEET/RATE/POKE/SHARE!**

Can't wait to get the next chapter out, hopefully it turns out well too, and hopefully I can get it done in about a week, as is starting to become pretty much the norm. Toodles!


	6. Chapter 5: Old Habits

**A/N: Yo, I'm back with the new chapter! Sorry it took longer than usual, my bad. I just got really distracted. Or maybe it's my way of retaliating to when the previous episode of Naruto got delayed a week (Even tho that makes no sense, I doubt the anime company reads this). Or perhaps I abandoned the series but was scared back into writing it by MistaBiggle's comment. (':s) Before I start this off, I just wanna say thanks to everyone who's been following this story, to all the reviewers, everyone who's added this fic to a community, and anyone who's been supporting the series in any way. Thanks guys, you are all the reason I keep uploading this story, I hope you enjoy.**

**And as you may have noticed, I have recently switched the rating to 'M'. If you would like to find out why – read!**

**Legal Art: Disclaimer no jutsu! I don't own Naruto!**

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Kyuubi Thought**__'_**/"Kyuubi Speech in Mindscape"**

Book Title

* * *

A sweaty and exhausted Naruto, unable to support himself anymore, lied down attempting to rest his worn out body. "That was – _hah_ – awesome – _hah_," the blonde declared between laboured breaths.

"Yes – _hah_ – it was," an equally drained Hinata panted out, lying beside Naruto. "How long – _hah_ – were we – _hah _– at it for?"

"A few – _hah_ – hours at least. I didn't – _hah_ – think it w – _hah_ – would be this – _hah_ – exhausting," the orange-clad shinobi said in wonder.

"I know – _hah_ – I still can't – _hah_ – feel my legs."

"You were – _hah _– amazing, Hinata."

"_hah _– You too – _hah_"

As Hinata lied there next to Naruto, she could not help but be happy to be so close to the blonde. While Hinata attempted to catch her breath, she thought back to how she ended up in this situation with her long-time crush.

* * *

**Earlier That Day**

Hinata walked down one of the many crowded streets of the village hidden in the leaves. She had just left the Hokage tower, where Tsunade had told her team that she did not have any missions for them today. The blue-haired kunoichi was always glad to have some time off; every shinobi needed a break from the stressful life of a ninja to relax once in a while. Plus, a day off meant a day that could be spent with Naruto. Since his return, Hinata had actually begun to develop a taste for Ichiraku's as well, and had used this as an excuse to stop by when her blonde ray of light was there, and the two had spent a lot more time together because of it. Though they would just eat and talk about their day, it was still the highlight of the day for the heiress.

However, today Naruto had not been at his usual lunch hangout. This obviously came as a letdown to Hinata, but she did not let it drag her down. Instead, she decided to use her free time to get another book from her new favourite erotica series. Though she is embarrassed to admit it, the Hyuuga heiress had been so engrossed by Icha Icha Techniques that she had read through the whole book in just a week, and had started reading through the rest of the series. She had stopped reading in public though, as that act often led to her being late for her curfew, or finding herself downright lost.

However, the pupiless kunoichi never reached the bookstore, because along the way she was interrupted by an unexpected, but very pleasant, surprise.

"Hey, Hinata!" Hinata turned around after hearing someone shouting her name, not that she had too – she would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Naruto, hello," she responded with some surprise in her voice, caught off-guard by her crush's sudden appearance. What could Naruto be doing out in this part of the village by himself?

The blonde rushed up to the surprised kunoichi with his usual foxy smile plastered on his face. "Perfect, I was just looking for you!" he exclaimed gleefully.

'_Wait, Naruto-kun was looking for __**me**__? What could he possibly want me for? Unless – no, there is no way.' _"Really? Why were you looking for me?" Hinata asked, astonished that her spiky-haired heartthrob was actually seeking her out. She was hoping against her better judgement that perhaps he had caught on to her feelings and was coming to ask her out, or declare his own love for her, or just take her right there and make her his! _'…Maybe I should cut down on the Icha Icha, before I do something indecent in public'_ Hinata conceded, making a mental amendment that she would have no problem doing anything lewd in public if she was with Naruto.

"Well, you see… It's just, there's something I've really wanted to do… Like, it's just that… Well, everyone else has already done it, and I just feel like…" the Uzumaki nervously rambled. Hinata just stood silently, clueless as to what could have the ever confident shinobi so flustered. "...I mean, I guess what I wanna say is… I'd like to take you up on that offer you made on my birthday…"

"…"

Hinata was a statue at this point. Her muscles had tensed and her eyes were wide. While her body was frozen in place, her mind was using every bit of its capacity to process what Naruto had just said. _'My offer – on his birthday – does he mean what I said when I gave him his gift? __**WAIT**__ – he figured out what I meant!? And he wants to do… _**that**_… with me? I… I… He… OH SWEET KAMI I AM GOING TO RIDE HIM SO HARD HIS WHISKER MARKS FALL OFF! ! !'_

"If you don't want to anymore, that's ok, I guess I'll just ha-"

"**NO**! I would love to! Anytime, ever!" Hinata all but shouted at the top of her lungs, mortified by the thought of losing her chance with Naruto. When she saw her lover-to-be's look of shock, she realized she had just yelled her response at him, and blushed furiously. _'Oh no… Now he's going to think I am some sort of easy whore… I hope he does not change his mind…'_

Fortunately for Hinata, Naruto just shook his head and beamed back at the girl, happy she had agreed. "Great! Let's go!" the Uzumaki exclaimed.

"Right now?" Hinata responded, shocked by the suddenness of the blonde's request. Not that she was complaining though.

"Yeah, why not! You said you were free anytime, right?" Naruto said as he grabbed the scarlet-faced kunoichi by the wrist. She had indeed said that. Hinata was only able to get out a startled "meep" as the orange-clad shinobi began pulling her down the street.

As the orange and lavender blurs flew through the town streets, the lavender blur's mind was racing. She thought about how suddenly Naruto had taken her up on her offer; she thought about how she had not even expected the blonde to catch her innuendo;, she thought about what they were about to do with each other – _thoroughly._ During their sprint through the town, something in particular that Naruto had said crossed her mind. _'Wait – __**everyone **__else has already done it?'_ They were ninjas; they were taught to kill with lethal weapons at ten, and could be thrown into situations where they would have to by twelve. Shinobi grew up fast, and in many cases died fast, so they usually held few reservations when it came to sex. Losing your virginity young was not uncommon in their profession, though Hinata still could not believe **everyone** else of their group had already done it. _'I know Tenten and Neji had their _thing_ at Naruto-kun's sleepover, Ino's told me about some of her past boyfriends (a little bit __**too**__**much**__), and I have been suspicious of Shikamaru and Temari's relationship… but even Lee? __**Lee**__? And I always thought Sakura would hold out for Sasuke; I know she's still delusionally in love with him. And Shino… *shudder* I wonder if he has any of his bugs down there…'_

While the horrified teen attempted to ward off the disgusting mental image, she realised a detail she had nearly missed. _'Wait – everyone __**else**__ has already done it? Does that mean…' _Hinata only managed to hold back her squeal of joy due to the fact that she lacked the breath to do so from trying to keep up with her crush. The heiress revelled in the fact that she would be Naruto's first (and hopefully last) just as he would be his. Hinata could never imagine giving her virginity to anyone but her love, but she had to give out a silent but grateful 'thank you' to whatever god had performed the miracle of keeping the blonde hunk in front of her from losing his during his two-year road trip with the biggest pervert in the five elemental nations.

The blue-haired chunin was so caught up in her own thoughts she had not noticed until Naruto stopped that they had not been travelling in the direction of his apartment. Instead, when her guide had stopped, she found the two of them standing in a vacant training ground.

"Ano… Naruto-kun, why did you bring me here?" Hinata asked, confusion dominating her eyes.

"Well, I use this training field a lot when I practice alone, and no one else ever seems to use it, so I figured it was as good a place as any," the blonde said shrugging.

'_He cannot possibly mean he wants to… __**here**__!?' _Hinata froze in fear and nervousness, she had definitely not pictured her first time being in public. Deep in some depraved corner of her mind, however, a spark of excitement grew from the idea of it, the rush of possibly being caught at any moment. Despite this, she was still very hesitant to actually go through with such a thing, and shook her head clear of the thought. "Why not just go to your apartment?" Hinata asked the obvious question. Naruto lived alone, and to her knowledge did not receive visitors too often, it was an ideal place.

"My apartment?" the jinchuuriki asked, looking a little confused himself now. "Uh, well it's a little small, don't ya think? And I don't wanna wreck the place." Naruto sounded as if the answer was obvious, and Hinata's eyes could only widen.

'_Oh Kami what am I getting myself into'_ the confused kunoichi thought, uncertain whether to be curious, afraid, or aroused. Her already present blush intensified as the first and final emotion caused her to attempt to imagine what he would do to her that would wreck his place. "But… W-what if someone sees us?" Hinata asked shakily.

The blonde just raised a brow, curious why the girl in front of him was asking so many questions. "What's the big deal with that? They could even join us if they want to." Hinata's blood-red flushed face started to go blue after she forgot to breathe. "…Well, as long as they aren't like Sakura. She just laughed at me when I asked her about it."

Ignoring the fact that her crush had gone for her bubblegum-haired rival before her, Hinata finally breathed in as she wondered what Sakura could have to laugh about. **Laugh!** _'The nerve of her! I am glad she turned him down, but to __**laugh?!**__ I got a pretty good view with my byakugan before, and he __**definitely **__has nothing to laugh about. Maybe it was because he told her he wanted to do… _it_ in public? Or perhaps does he have some sort of strange fetish he hasn't told me about yet?'_ the Hyuuga racked her brain; feeling relieved, furious, and puzzled by Sakura's reaction.

Throughout her entire questioning, Hinata had been unknowingly inching closer to the object of her desires, and the close proximity was becoming unbearable for the girl. She could not help but lose herself in the sapphire gems he had for eyes, and she could feel the warmth of his breath on her, still heavy from the run to the training ground. Privacy be damned, she was going to make Naruto hers, right there and now! Abandoning all self-restraint, she lunged into her wanting crush, aiming to steal his lips in the searing kiss Hinata had dreamed of for years.

She closed her eyes, expecting her lips to meet his. However, all she felt was the hard ground slam into her face as the startled heiress was thrown to the ground. "Aaah! What was that for?" she asked, bewildered by her partner's sudden action.

"What? Gomen, Hinata! When you came at me like that I thought we were starting!" the blonde answered worriedly.

'_My Kami, I had no idea Naruto-kun was so rough! Now I know why he didn't want to do this in his apartment…'_ "It's ok, Naruto-kun," Hinata lied, "but do you think you could be – just a _little_ bit gentler?" As if that wasn't the biggest understatement of the century. To say Naruto was being a _little _bit rough with her right now would be like saying Jiraiya was a _little_ bit perverted, or that Sasuke held a _little_ bit of a grudge against Itachi. If her love continued like this, she was not sure she would make it out of here without a few broken bones!

The horny Hyuuga slowly got to her feet, rubbing her sore head as Naruto responded ."What?! Come on, it wouldn't be any fun if I went easy on you! I know you can take it, and I don't want you holding back on me either!" Hinata began sweating in fear. Her feet were glued to where they stood, and her eyes were wide like dinner plates. She silently made out her will – she obviously left everything to Naruto, except for a couple small things for Neji and Hanabi to remember her by. However, all of the scared kunoichi's fear melted into confusion after her rough love's next sentence.

"There was something I was hoping to try today, but we can start off with a little spar if you really want to."

"Spar? Why would we spar?" Hinata asked without a clue in her mind what Naruto was talking about, not even wanting to know what it was he had wanting to try doing to her.

Now Naruto shared the same puzzled expression as the heiress before her. "You said that you wanted to train with me, right?" the ignorant knucklehead questioned. Hinata merely sweat-dropped. _'So __**that **__was what he wanted me for? So he… __**didn't**__ figure out what I was trying to imply?' _Hinata realized. A wave of relief swept over her as her body relaxed. She was too relieved to even feel upset in the slightest that she and Naruto were not going to be doing anything intimate with each other. As she was about to allow her body to drop to the ground, reassured she was not about to be hospitalized in the most embarrassing way possible, one question surfaced to the front of her mind.

"Then what was it that you had wanted to try, that you said everyone else has already done, that had made Sakura laugh at you?" Hinata held a curiosity in her eyes, but also a look that pleaded him to open up to her, and a sincere willingness to help. Naruto knew she would not think less of him for this, though he was still a little bit nervous telling her what was on his mind.

The orange-clad started rubbing the back of his neck, averting his gaze from Hinata. He began to explain his intentions in a somewhat embarrassed tone. "Well, ya see… It's just that… I know this probably sounds stupid but…" Naruto paused for a few seconds before letting out a loud sigh, his expression turning slowly from nervous to solemn and thoughtful. "The other day, I was talking with some of the others, and somehow we started talking about how I was the only one who hadn't made chuunin yet. It just made me realize – how far behind I've always been behind everybody. I was always dead-last in the academy, I was the last one to graduate and become a genin, and now I'm gonna be the last one to become chuunin – I'll probably be the last one of us to get promoted to jonin too. Heck, I failed the academy final exam **three **times – no one else in the class had to even had to take it a second time, and even when I did pass, it was just on an exception. I know I learned the shadow clone technique, and a bunch more advanced jutsu, but I was never even able to – **still** am not able to even perform the clone technique! It just feels like… like I've been taking all these weird shortcuts, skipping all the basic skills I could never really get down, and I feel like I'll never really be able to catch up to any of you guys until I stop that – stop giving up whenever I hit a roadblock – cuz you know I never give up. That's why I wanted to see if I could go back and catch up to you guys, starting with the clone jutsu – that is, if you'll help me."

"Of course I will Naruto-kun," Hinata responded, her eyes shining with sincerity. She was extremely moved by her crush's speech and determination, it was the reason she had fallen in love with him. A small smile tugged at the jinchuuriki's lips, and Hinata could not help but smile sweetly back.

* * *

And that is how the two came to their present situation, each lying on the ground, sweaty and exhausted. It had taken a little while, but Naruto was finally able to create his first successful clone. He had been so excited that he had actually run up and hugged Hinata, much to her enjoyment. As there was still most of the day left at this point, the two had decided to train a while longer. After a few hours of sparring, even the stamina freak of the leaf was gasping for air.

While the pair recharged, Naruto was in the middle of a pride-fueled rambling about what he would be doing next. "… and then I'll finally have to learn to use the rasengan with one hand! And then I'll…"

Hinata on the other hand, was just lying in a silent trance. The heiress could not tear her gaze from her crush's bright smile. She felt as if she was floating, knowing that she had helped put that smile on the blonde's face. The blue-haired teen was broken out of her trance as her training partner slowly got to his feet and turned to her. Naruto, still grinning his foxy grin, bent down and offered a hand to the drained Hyuuga. Hinata happily accepted, placing her small, feminine hand into his larger, calloused one. She basked in the warmth she received as her love gripped her hand and pulled her up.

As she was raised to her feet, she thought to herself _'I cannot believe this. Naruto-kun's holding my hand… Two years ago, I would have fainted the instant we touched. Yet, I am still no closer to making him mine…'_ It was true. For as far as Hinata had come over the years, all the time she had spent talking and flirting with him, all the revealing clothes she had bought just for him, everything she had done, she was still no closer to having Naruto realize her feelings than when she was still shy and terrified of being near him. Even with the confidence to try to get her crush to notice her, his density would still prevail. Hell, the last time she had attempted to seduce the knucklehead it had ended with the two of them training! **Everyone** else who had heard her obvious attempt at seducing the teen shinobi had deciphered it, **except **said boy (Well, and Lee and Konohamaru). Does anyone else have any understanding of how frustrating that felt?!

* * *

**In a Palace in the Land of Demons**

A sneeze escaped a blonde priestess' lips.

"Lady Shion, are you alright?" a servant inquired.

"Yes, it was just a sneeze. Now, have you prepared the arrangements for the ceremony?" Shion asked.

"My lady, I believe you may be rushing things. The temple has been set up for the wedding for a week already, but we cannot keep it like that forever! Uzumaki-san never even said when he would be back! Many of your subjects are beginning to question whether he even is co-"

"Silence!" the irritated priestess interjected. "He **will** be back! Naruto promised me an heir, he will not forget about me!"

"But lady Shion, it has been months since he left, and we have received no word from him since! Perhaps you should begin searching for another suitor, it is clear to the others that he must have no intentions of –" The servant was cut-off mid-sentence when Shion quickly grabbed the bell by her neck and violently shook it.

"Oh, you hear that?! I'm getting a vision! I see that you are going to die if you finish that sentence!" the priestess threatened. The now sweating servant shut his mouth as he bowed and hurriedly exited the priestess' chambers.

* * *

**Back at the Training Ground**

While Hinata was reflecting to herself, the jinchuuriki in front of her spoke up. "So, what do you wanna do now Hinata?" The blonde looked expectantly at her awaiting an answer. However, the response Naruto received was one he had not witnessed in a long time. Hinata's grip on his hand loosened as she began to sway back and forth, back and forth, until –

**THUD.**

After an over two-year streak, Hinata fainted. Naruto's eyes widened as she fell back to the ground. The orange-clad ninja panicked and rushed to her side. "Hinata, are you ok?! Hinata? **Hinata!?**"

Naruto was perplexed; he had not seen this coming. Since he had arrived back in the village from his trip, he had yet to see Hinata faint like she used too. He had assumed she had finally gotten over whatever recurring illness had been causing it, but apparently this was not so.

The unconscious girl was showing no signs of waking up. Naruto panicked; he had no medical ninja skills, but he knew he could not just leave Hinata lying on the ground like this. What if she had suffered heat stroke? Sitting out in the sun certainly would not help. Or perhaps it was just exhaustion or dehydration from the training? Regardless of what it was, Naruto knew that the passed-out kunoichi needed some help, and resolved to take her someplace where she could be better cared for.

The worried blonde got onto one knee and picked up his sleeping friend bridal style before taking off towards the village. Unbeknownst to him, the girl he was carrying was currently fighting off a smirk from appearing on her face.

Yes, Hinata was very much conscious. While the heiress was reminiscing over her old timid habits, she remembered all the times she would faint around the object of her desires. The part she would enjoy remembering was how Naruto had always seemed so concerned for her; he had never ignored her when she was unconscious, and always made sure she was ok. This gave Hinata an idea, and so far it had been worth the uncushioned fall just to be held in the arms of the boy who already held her heart.

This was not the first time Naruto had carried Hinata, though it was the first time it had happened while she was (secretly) conscious, and she loved her crush' touch. In fact, she desperately wanted more. Noticing that the boy's right hand was only inches away from her butt, Hinata thought that perhaps, if she subtly shifted her weight a bit, maybe she could land his hand there…

…

**THUD**

"Uh oh, sorry 'bout that Hinata, hehe," Naruto apologised sheepishly.

Bad idea. The unexpected squirming from Hinata had caused Naruto to lose his grip and accidentally drop her. When the boy noticed that the pupiless kunoichi was still out of it, he shrugged off her movements, figuring she just fidgets in her sleep. He picked her back up and continued towards his destination.

* * *

After 15 blissful minutes of travelling through the village in the embrace of her crush, Hinata felt Naruto stop, and heard the opening of a door. She mentally crossed her fingers; if the lack of Hyuuga gaurds interrogating Naruto were any indication, her plan seemed to be working. Hinata knew Naruto, being the kind-hearted soul he was, would take care of her had she fainted again. Hinata knew how much Naruto detested hospitals, and figured he would most likely avoid going to one unless something more serious had happened. That only left his apartment or the Hyuuga compound, and Naruto's apartment was much closer to the training field than her house.

Soon Hinata felt her body gently make contact with a soft surface, followed by the closing of a door. Hinata slowly opened an eye by a tiny slit. She could have utilised her byakugan to survey her surroundings without the need to open her eyes, but she figured the pulsating veins on her face would be easier to spot. Hinata's peek confirmed two things: that this was indeed not her home but Naruto's, and that he had currently left the room.

Extremely proud of her plan, a grin stretched across Hinata's face as she opened her eyes and sat up. As she took a quick look around, she realized that she was seated in Naruto's bedroom, right on top of his bed. _'This is going too perfectly'_ she mentally cheered, _'Time for phase two.'_

Ever since Naruto had come back, Hinata had had one goal and one goal only, and that goal was Naruto. She had tried so hard, been so confident, done everything she could think of to win over her oblivious love, so far to no prevail. Hinata was tired of the waiting, tired of the letdowns, tired of the suspense, tired of the misunderstandings, tired of it all. Now she had Naruto right where she wanted him, and she was going to make sure there would be no uncertainty and no misunderstandings this time. She was going to make Naruto hers today.

With a few swift moves, Hinata's sweaty mesh shirt and capri pants found their way to the floor, leaving her in only her lavender bra and panties. After all, she had to leave **something** for her clueless heartthrob to take off of her; it wouldn't be fun if she did **all** the work. She waited there in her underwear, her smooth, milky-white skin still glistening from the sweaty perspiration running down it. She patted down her hair, which was still somewhat messy from their sparring, and attempted to lie in the most alluring pose possible. She was on her side, with one slender leg crossed slightly over the other. One of her elbows was supporting her upper body, while the hand of her other arm was lightly tracing her curvaceous form. Hinata arched her back slightly to stick her already large chest out a little more, her breasts nearly spilling out of their confines.

Hinata hoped Naruto would find her as tempting and irresistible as she found him, and waited there for him to return to _take care of her_.

And waited.

And waited.

After some time had passed, Hinata began to worry why the apartment's inhabitant had yet to return to his supposedly unconscious guest. Out of curiosity the Hyuuga activated her kekkei genkai and scouted out the apartment. To her surprise, it was empty except for her. Where could Naruto have gone? He couldn't have just forgotten an unconscious friend in his apartment, could he have? No, he must have had a good reason to leave. One thing was for sure: he would need to come back. Until then, Hinata made herself comfortable and took advantage of the extra time to go the bathroom to make a few last-minute touch-ups before Naruto returned.

* * *

After about a half hour of boredom and anticipation, the sound of the front door of the apartment opening alerted Hinata. She quietly scrambled back to the bed, returning to her sexy pose. After the longest seconds of Hinata's life, her spiky-haired idol entered the room – with unexpected company.

"Thanks again Sakura, she's right in here. I'm not sure what she's got, this is the first time this has happened in a-" Naruto paused after the medical ninja froze in his doorway with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. He turned his head to see what had Sakura so shocked, and was greeted by the sight of an equally shocked, but far less dressed, Hinata Hyuuga.

Naruto's eyes bulged as his face flooded with blood in perfect sync with Hinata.

Hinata clutched the sheets of the bed and lifted them to cover herself. "W-w-what are you doing here?!" Hinata squealed to Sakura in her embarrassment and panic.

Naruto, believing that question to be directed at the both of the two entering the room, stuttered out an answer to the half-naked heiress' question. "W-well, you p-passed out after our training, s-so I brought you b-back to my place, and then I got S-Sakura to come and check… you…. outIthinkshehitherheadwhenshefellyoushouldstarthealingherSakurabye!" The blonde rushed the words out of his mouth at lightning speed after 'check you out' while he attempted not to do just that. Before Hinata or Sakura could utter another word the jinchuuriki had ran out of the room, shutting the door behind him and plugging up a massive nosebleed with his hand.

When Naruto had told Sakura that Hinata had fainted, she had been skeptical at first, given her habit of doing that around her crush. However, considering she had not passed out once since his return, the medic was concerned it might actually be something serious this time. However, Sakura could easily tell now that this was not the case; she had a pretty good idea of what Hinata was trying to do, even if Naruto was still as oblivious as ever. Knowing that her healing prowess would not be needed, Sakura merely gave Hinata a sympathetic look, silently apologising for ruining whatever plan she had concocted. Hinata did not see this though, as her eyes were downcast in disappointment while she sighed and dressed herself in her discarded clothes.

Too embarrassed and saddened to say anything to Sakura, she decided to spare herself any further humiliation by just leaving out the window, abandoning her stupid plan. As she leapt away, she could not help but wonder what that spiky white bush on Naruto's balcony was, and why she could have sworn she heard it giggling.

Sighing also, Sakura headed back to Naruto's living room to tell the shinobi that Hinata was fine and had just left.

When everyone within eyesight was gone, Jiraiya got up from the spot where he was curled up outside Naruto's window, his spiky white hair retreating. "Heh, the Raging Lions' Mane makes better camouflage than I thought," the pervert mused to himself, reviewing the notes he had taken as he too left.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Lemme know what you think in the reviews! This chapter had innuendo, plot twists, Hinata's first faint, Jiraiya, partial nudity, and even an appearance from Shion! What more could you want? (Except maybe a lemon, but stay patient!) The whole 'clone jutsu' dilemma is just something I thought up in order to stick one more innuendo into there, but hey, I think it worked, and even gave the chapter a wee bit of emotion. The speech just sorta came to me, I obviously had to explain that part of the plot. NO, I am not trying to bash or belittle Naruto in any way, he was pretty powerful in the anime at this point and he is in this fic too, the speech was just Naruto's own, self-depreciating thoughts. I hope it was in character tho and made sense.**

**I hope the beginning wasn't too obvious, and I had at least a few of you going there! I even switched the rating just to make sure less of you would suspect the troll! I felt with all of the ambiguous innuendo, it needed that to keep you guys from getting suspicious of the twist. Don't be mad, just wanted the writing to have its intended impact: to trick you guys. Don't worry though, there WILL be citrus in upcoming chapters, I have planned out a lime two uploads from now, and I want a full blown lemon ending, so I may as well just leave it M anyways.**

**Speaking of next chapter, just a heads up, the next chapter to the series will be… I'm not sure what to call it, I don't think 'Omake' quite fits, but it will basically be a little bit of a departure from advancing the storyline. Instead, it will not focus on Naruto and Hinata, but will instead give many of the lesser characters an appearance, and get some insight on the rest of the village's reactions to Hinata's newfound courage and actions. It'll still be funny tho! It's going to be called: "The NaruHina Pool." Hope you look forward to it!**

**And remember: FOLLOW/FAVE/REVIEW! PCE!**


	7. Omake: The NaruHina Pool

**A/N: Hey! Here is the new update of the series! Since I felt like I could've been quicker with the last chapter, I decided to work a bit harder than usual to get this update out sooner as a little gift to all you guys. Thnx for all your support! (Don't expect the next chapter to be finished so quickly though)**

**As stated in the title, I labeled this an omake rather than an actual chapter, as it does not really revolve around the main plot of the story (though the ending will tie in with the next chapter!), but hey, this is a comedy, not like I had a really intricate or in-depth storyline to begin with! I promise it will give some laughs tho, and it gave me the opportunity to write for some characters who didn't get many (or any) appearances in the main story. Also, I don't really gamble, and have never been in a pool, but I hope I at least made the chapter sound believable & make sense.**

**P.S: I couldn't come up with a good name for the bar, so I sorta took inspiration for the name (and the name of the clan who runs it) from one of my favourite non-anime sources of entertainment from Japan! If you recognize where I came up with the names from, let me know in the comments! If you're right, I'll… Respect you? I dunno, I can't really give out any prizes or anything. Also, I tried to stay true to the Narutoverse by using their currency (ryo), though I have a very shaky concept of it's worth. I did a quick search to try and make the amounts seem somewat realistic, though I apologize to anyone from pre-Meiji Japan who is thrown off by the absurdness of the wagers. Without further ado, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't profit off of this (or anything for that matter) and Naruto and all its characters except the my OC clan are owned by Kishimoto. **

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Kyuubi thought'**_**/"Kyuubi speech in mindscape"**

* * *

In the east end of Konoha, among the many shops and stands which had closed for the night, lied a bar bustling with customers. The bar was nothing special, just a little tavern started by a member of the Revo clan just after the third shinobi war. The Revo clan kept ownership of the bar, named _Hidden Horizon,_ since; whatever members were free from missions pitching in to run the place. It had not been renovated much, if at all, since its opening, which gave the establishment a rustic feel.

Though it was not exclusive, the bar was mostly frequented by the shinobi of the village. Many of them would come after a stressful mission to unwind and down a few cups of sake. What the ninjas appreciated most about the Hidden Horizon was that it was one of very few ninja-run bars in Konoha, the next-closest being nearly on the opposite end of the town. This always meant the shinobi would have a sympathetic bartender who understood the hardships of their line of work, giving the patrons someone to talk to about their recent missions, and the Revos would often give a free round or two to those who had been through an especially difficult or unfortunate battle.

Now, while the bar was by no means struggling, it had not usually had the volume of business it had been receiving recently. Why was it so busy? Well, a while back, the bar had been unofficially designated as the meeting place for the shinobi to share and gamble on the hottest gossip that had spread through the village in years. Many ninja men and kunoichi had a good amount of money riding on the bets, and could not afford to miss an update. Whether good news or bad news for them, it was bound to be worth hearing.

A ponytailed nin with a large scar across his nose walked through the bar doors, and up to the counter where the Hokage herself was sitting on a stool in front of a cluster of empty cups. "Yo Tsunade, I was just at Ichiraku's, and they said they want to get in on this. Teuchi says three more weeks for 7000 ryo, and Ayame's putting 4000 ryo on public," Iruka told Tsunade.

What is it that the citizens of the leaf village are betting on? None other than Konoha's favourite would-be couple, Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga. It all started a while back…

* * *

**Flashback**

It was an average business day for the Hidden Horizon, a good handful of shinobi drowning away their troubles with their comrades. On this particular night, Tsunade had managed to slip by Shizune and avoid doing her paperwork. So she decided to relax by indulging in her second favourite vice: sake. When the Hokage entered the bar she was given a friendly greeting from the barkeep; many of the Revo clan knew their Hokage quite well, as she was one of their best customers.

Tsunade took her usual seat and was handed a cup of her usual drink before she could even order. The busty Hokage had really come to love the service here; perhaps if she gave the clan some extra funds she could convince them to open another location closer to the Hokage tower…

The unseemingly old Senju was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of some familiar laughter. A few seats away from her sat the Jonin senseis of the Konoha 12. Gai and Asuma were laughing their asses off over something the copycat nin had shared with them, while Kurenai ashamedly stifled a reluctant giggle. Tsunade already knew what they must be talking about; it was no secret. The ninja of the village had spread news of Naruto and Hinata's misadventures quite quickly. Nearly everything the two had done would soon circulate among the village shinobi. Between at least one of their senseis inadvertently witnessing many of their antics or hearing about them from their other students, to the fact that Konoha's own gossip nin, Ino Yamanaka, was Hinata's personal advisor in most of her scheming, the rumors were well known outside of their personal circle. From the four senseis' accounts of their training mishap, to Sakura blabbing about the state she found the heiress in when she went to Naruto's apartment to heal her, to Iruka relaying what he heard about some of their conversations at Ichiraku's from the proprietor himself, the other ninja of the village stayed in the loop to what was going on between the pair.

While the shinobi knew enough about stealth and secrecy to keep from talking about the two in public, lest one of the pair overhear, or worse, a Hyuuga (who knows how they would react), this bar was a safe spot where they could indulge freely in the newest gossip regarding the young ninjas. Since the teens were still too young to drink, there was no risk in running into either of them there, and everyone figured the old tavern was not high-class enough for any of the oh-so noble and snobbish Hyuuga clan to be caught dead in. The Hidden Horizon was the haven where everyone could have a good laugh over the latest stories they heard, and nobody enjoyed these stories more than the people who knew the two the best: their senseis.

The four always came straight to the tavern after finishing with their squads' training or missions to talk about the subject that always managed to bring the four together like old times. The gossip they shared usually led to in-depth conversations, whether it be about the unlikely pair, their own younger days, or sometimes heated debates over whether the two would ever get together. And that is how it all started.

"Naruto's gonna catch on sooner or later, he can't be **that** boneheaded."

"Easy for you to say, you weren't the one who had to teach him. You know he once asked me why I only have one sharingan eye, and I told him it was because I was half Uchiha. The kid believed me! I'm fairly certain that's not how kekkei genkais work!"

"It doesn't matter, I know Hinata, and she's come a long way from the timid little girl she was when she joined my team. When she's determined, she's just like Naruto, she won't give up until she achieves it. I am sure she'll find a way to get through Naruto's thick skull."

"Please, there's a better chance of Shikamaru volunteering for… well, anything really. If she would just find the backbone to actually speak up to the knucklehead and ask him out or something, they'd probably already be together."

"Hey! Don't say that about my student! You have no idea how hard it is for her to go as far as she already has! Besides, anyone else with half a brain could have picked up on her feelings easily. If she was in love with any other boy, they would already be going out! I think something in all that ramen Naruto eats has been killing his brain cells."

"The power of youth shall triumph over all obstacles! Hinata must let the flames of her love burn bright enough for Naruto to see, only then can they join to share the springtime of their youths!"

"…Exactly, like I was saying, Naruto's not **that** boneheaded, he's bound to catch on with the way Hinata's been coming on to him. I'll bet the two of them are together by the end of the week."

Tsunade's ears immediately perked at the mention of the woman's favourite vice: gambling. She slid down to the senseis and asked, "How much money are we talking here?"

Within minutes, each of the senseis found their wallets emptied, betting their hard-earned cash on how long, if ever, it would take for Naruto and Hinata to get together. A few nearby ninja who were in the know about the rumors decided to get in on the action too. Soon, the patrons of the bar had set up a pool, placing their bets on how long it would take for the two to start going out. Given their reputations, Hinata's as heiress of the Hyuuga clan, and Naruto's as the nine-tails jinchuuriki and apprentice of one of the legendary sennin, most of the village were familiar enough with the two characters to be eager to put some money down on their own estimates.

For a while, this satisfied the ninja of the leaf. Many shinobi would be anxious to head down to the Hidden Horizon to hear the latest update on their favourite chuunin and genin. The stories always gave the ninjas a good laugh after a harsh day, some false rumors even spreading due to the gossip's popularity. The added thrill of the money riding on the two only made the news that much more interesting and suspenseful to hear. However, this rush eventually wore off as the pool quickly became boring to most of the men and women involved. Another week would pass, another group of people would be out of cash.

Fortunately the rumors kept getting juicier and juicer, which kept the gamblers entertained. At one point, after losing his earnings from his latest mission, one ninja started attempting to make some other bets, in an attempt to win his money back. This caught the interest of many of the other bar customers, and soon, bets were being made on many different aspects of the blue-haired kunoichi and orange-clad shinobi's relationship. With the way the latest exploits of the two was becoming increasingly _adult_, many of the bets became sexual also. The question was no longer when or if the two would start dating, but when or if Hinata would finally get the slow Uzumaki out of his pants. So the shinobi placed their bets. They bet on everything – and I mean _everything_. There were people betting who would be the one to initiate there future lovemaking, they bet on whether Hinata would have to break into the blonde's apartment in his sleep to finally get some, and of course there was the ever popular _Naruto is gay_ option. They even bet on whether the two would be able to make it to the bedroom or if they would just get it on in public. Which brings us back to the present…

* * *

**Back in the Present**

"Yo Tsunade, I was just at Ichiraku's, and they said they want to get in on this. Teuchi says three more weeks for 7000 ryo, and Ayame's putting 4000 ryo on public," Iruka told Tsunade, handing her a wad of bills. "Her exact words were, "I doubt that horny bitch has the decency to resist dropping to her knees and taking off his pants before Naruto even starts his second bowl of ramen one of these days!" If you ask me, she sounds jealous. I think she might have developed a little crush on Naruto herself," Iruka said chuckling.

"Well, I can't blame her," Tsunade replied, accepting the bills from the academy teacher since she had eagerly accepted the role of bookie since the beginning of the pool. "He has become quite good looking for a gaki, and she's seen him nearly every day for Kami knows how many years. Hmm… Anyone wanna bet on Ayame stealing the kid from Hinata?" Tsunade hollered to the bar patrons. She eyed the chalkboards set up behind the counter, searching for a blank space. With the volume of different bets going on, it had become rather difficult to keep track of. So, with the bartender's permission, the Hokage had set up multiple chalkboards beside the usual bar signs and menus, each one filled with the different bets people were making and their odds, to make it easier for people to review their options and keep track of all their bets.

"Oh, I don't think that relationship would ever work out well," Kakashi said, not looking up from his newest book, Icha Icha Sleepover.

"Why not?" Tsunade questioned. "I mean, the age gap between the two of them isn't that big."

"And she knows how to make his favourite ramen! If he thought she was interested in him, he'd probably drop down on one knee and propose on the spot! She's his dream-wife: his chef!" This comment earned a hearty laugh from all three, as they all knew how true that probably was.

Kakashi tried to keep it together and quiet his laughter to retort. "Yeah, but think of it this way – the only place he **ever** goes to eat is Ichiraku's, so I'm sure they would end up having most of their dates there, which would become pretty awkward." The other to shinobi nodded their heads in realization; the cycloptic jonin had a very good point. Spending all their dates in front of her father definitely would be awkward.

"Not to mention how hard of a breakup it would be," Iruka added. "There would be no way Naruto would be able to eat there again – so Naruto would starve, and Ichiraku's would go out of business." The three resumed chuckling at the imaginary relationship of Naruto and Ayame.

"I still say the gaki prefers A and D ranked missions to B and C ranked ones if you know what I mean," Anko chimed in. The others most definitely did **not **know what she meant, and just stared at her with a confused expression, waiting for her to clarify. "Ugh! The A and D stand for ass and dick, and the B and C stand for boobs and cunt. Kami! You try to be clever and make a dirty conversation a bit classier, and no one understands. I'm saying he's GAY!" Anko blurted out in frustration. The purple-haired jonin had a reputation for being rather blunt and foul-mouthed, so she was trying to be a bit more subtle in her dirtier conversations. Unfortunately, she was not so smooth at coming up with innuendo, which was most likely the reason she was always so straight-forward.

"No way," Naruto's academy teacher replied, "That kid was always all over Sakura in my classes. There's just no way he's into men."

"So he's in denial, happens all the time. Why do you think he was always so attracted to Sakura over the other girls anyway? With that temper, strong arm, big brow, and about the flattest chest in town, you gotta admit she **is** pretty masculine," Anko retorted. Iruka's mouth opened to speak, but he was unable to find the words to make a sound rebuttal.

"And isn't it true that he kissed that rogue Uchiha back in the academy? Sasuke, right?" Yamato piped in curiously. He had been told a few stories about his current team, but he had not confirmed if any of them were true.

Anko whipped her head from the wood-style user back to Iruka with wide eyes, begging for an answer. Iruka looked a little disgruntled, annoyed at these people trying to make out his favourite pupil to be something he was not. "It was an accident," Iruka mumbled, which put a toothy smile on the snake mistress' face. Anko had her hands on her stomach as she nearly fell off her stool laughing.

"Wow, and you're still trying to deny it?! Oh man, this is easy money right here! Can I put another 5000 ryo on the gaki comin' outta the closet?" Tsunade nodded her head and accepted the roll of bills shoved into her hand. "It all makes too much sense to; the only other bastard I've seen that can turn down such a hot piece of ass without a second thought is his baby-faced boyfriend himself!" Anko exclaimed, still bellowing an unstopping laugh.

* * *

**In an Underground Base Somewhere in the Sound Village**

Missing nin Sasuke Uchiha let out a quick sneeze.

"Oh no, Sasuke, sounds like you might be coming down with something," the snake sennin said in feigned concern, bearing a deviant smirk.

"Hn. It's just a damn sneeze, I am sure it's nothing," Sasuke coldly replied, arms crossed, looking away from his master.

"Well, we cannot take any risks with my future vessel. Kabuto, please retrieve some _medicine_." Sasuke did not trust the way Orichimaru had given his command. Kabuto just nodded and obediently left to retrieve said medicine. He returned a few moments later, handing the last Uchiha a small blue pill. Sasuke looked it over skeptically. It was in the shape of a diamond, and had 'VGR 100' engraved on one side. He was suspicious of the so called _medicine_, but looked back at his sensei and realized he was not going to have a choice in the matter. Reluctantly, Sasuke swallowed the pill, which caused Orichimaru's smirk to stretch into a spine-chilling grin.

"Good, good. Now we are going to have to observe how it affects your body to make sure the _medicine_ is working correctly. **STRIP**," Orichimaru commanded to a now sweaty and scared Sasuke.

* * *

**Back in the Hidden Horizon**

"How would we even know if they did get together? Hell, they could be going at it like rabbits right now for all we know," Asuma questioned Tsunade. Even though so many of their exploits had leaked to the public of Konoha, there was still the chance that the two could have done something unnoticed by anyone else.

"Fat chance," Tsunade responded confidently. "I've had a team of ANBU tailing those two for a while now. If those two so much as breathe on each other, I'll know before Naruto even catches on!" Tsunade laughed along with the shinobi around her at her joke at Naruto's expense.

"And they're also making sure no one tries to cheat and tell Naruto what's going on with Hinata!" Tsunade glared at Izumo and Kotetsu as she said this. The pair met her harsh eyes and looked away. They had, in fact, attempted to do just that a couple weeks ago. The duo were on gate duty when the whiskered teen happened to be returning from a mission. Kotetsu attempted pull Naruto away for a private word as Izumo distracted his team for the moment. That is, until a pair of ANBU appeared and informed them that the Hokage had summoned them. Suffice to say, the Hokage had not been expecting the two, and their meeting had not been pleasant when the ANBU members informed her why they brought them there. The two chuunin had been sent out of the village on the worst missions available for the next two weeks.

"So don't try to use that excuse to back out on your bet!" the Hokage sternly said to the chain-smoking sensei. Asuma just grumbled and walked out of the bar, most likely for a smoke.

"I'm surprised Jiraiya hasn't been begging you for that job all this time," Kakashi joked, his visible eye closing in a happy expression.

Tsunade merely rested her head in her hand, releasing a frustrated grunt. "Don't remind me about him. He's already been caught trying to steal an ANBU uniform from their locker room three times." The rest of the shinobi sweat-dropped. _'Figures'_ was the one thought that ran through their minds.

"Well, I suppose that would be the first time the pervert ever broke into a **men's** locker room," Kurenai jested. The rest of the ninja joined in her laughter, except for Tsunade, who just sounded more frustrated.

"Actually, the third time was in the **kunoichi **ANBU locker room." The laughter slowly died as everyone sweat-dropped again. "I honestly don't think he was trying to get a uniform that time."

As the shinobi continued their drinking and gambling, waiting to hear the newest update on the teen shinobi that were talk of the town recently, the last person anyone would have expected walked in…

-Hiashi Hyuuga-

As the clan head stepped through the doors of the tavern, every patron facing his way went silent, frozen completely on the spot. As Hiashi entered, he took note of the silence, raising a suspicious brow. This decrease in volume did not go unnoticed by Tsunade either, who turned around to see what had shut everyone up. She too was shocked beyond belief when she caught none other than the head of the prestigious Hyuuga clan entering the establishment.

'_Damn! What could Hiashi possibly be doing in a place like this?! A branch member, __**maybe**__, but the freaking head of the clan?! This could ruin everything!'_ the Hokage mentally panicked. She spun around with speed rivaled only by Gai, and whispered in a hushed and terrified voice, "Quick! Hide the boards!"

Yamato nodded in understanding and equal worry. While Hiashi was looking away, he made a few hand-signs under the counter, and suddenly the chalkboards which displayed the bets the shinobi had been making on the unexpected customer's daughter seemed to sink into the shifting wooden walls. Where there were once chalkboards, there was now bare wall.

The ever stoic clan head walked up and took a seat beside the Hokage. "Hiashi-sama, what brings you here?" Tsunade attempted to ask casually, though it came out sounding nervous as hell. The blonde kunoichi flashed a shaky fake smile to the Hyuuga head.

Hiashi's emotionless face was unchanging like stone. "I could ask you the same thing," he said in his usual monotone, though it was clear the man was not pleased with the fact that their Hokage spent so much time drinking in bars, "but if you must know, I have been hearing word that certain rumors have been spreading about none other than my eldest daughter." Every other ninja in the bar began to sweat, holding their breath in fear of being found out and what the Hyuuga's response would be to what they were doing. "My sources have informed me that most of these rumors seem to have originated from this very establishment," Hiashi said as stoically as ever, glancing around the building at the paling shinobi who did not dare meet his gaze. "And what is more, is that I have been told that the people spreading these rumors have been illegally gambling on the outcomes of my daughter's most recent actions."

It was always tough to tell just how angry the Hyuuga head was, as the proper clansman was trained to hide such emotions from others. His calm voice and empty Hyuuga eyes gave away nothing, but everyone in the bar knew that it was all over. As Hiashi reached into his robes for what everyone could only guess was either a request to have the Hidden Horizon shut down or his sword, the clan leader spoke up again.

"So what I came here to say is – I'd like to put 12,000 ryo on five more weeks." Every single shinobi in the bar released the breath they were holding and blinked in unison. Many believed they had heard wrong, but were confirmed when the Hyuuga finished pulling his wallet out of his robe and began counting his money. After placing the ryo on the counter in front of the bookkeeper/Hokage, he looked up towards where the chalkboards were hidden behind the tavern walls. While everyone still stared in quiet bewilderment, Hiashi activated his byakugan, and his face contorted to show a little bit of disgust. "And I am **sure** my daughter will have the decency to not… _have relations_ in public. I'll bet 25,000 on private," the wealthy clan leader said as he pulled another stack of bills out of his wallet.

The patrons of the bar, still confused by this turn of events, gave in to their curiosity and began seeking the answers to their questions. "Uh… Hiashi-sama, you **do** know what you are betting on, right?" a curious Tsunade asked.

The Hyuuga looked back to her as he deactivated his doujutsu, his face as serious as ever. "Yes, I am well aware of my daughter's attempts at courting the young Uzumaki."

"Courting? The only thing she's trying to court is his wang into her snatch," the ever blunt Anko blurted out, earning stares from the other gamblers, who all wondered why she wanted to die so badly. The jonin kunoichi flinched as the clan leader turned to give her a menacing sneer. Satisfied with the amount of fear instilled in the usually tough shinobi for speaking of his daughter in such an indecent manner, he turned back to Tsunade.

He closed his eyes in mild annoyance, refusing to look at the others as he addressed the last statement. After a small sigh, he said, "I know of the… _more extreme_ methods Hinata has been taking to woo the boy. Alas, from what I have heard the boy is incredibly oblivious when it comes to the matter of romance, so I suppose such measures would be made necessary. Though I would greatly appreciate it if you would not feel the need to constantly remind me, especially not in such blunt terms." The last part of his response came out somewhat threateningly, which had Anko visibly shaking.

"…And you're okay with this?" a baffled Kurenai cautiously prodded.

Another sigh escaped from the Hyuuga head. "Though I may not fully agree with the attitudes this generation holds towards such… _activities_, I understand the way it is to be at that age, I was young once too. Especially being a shinobi, I would rather my daughter seek her own happiness before it is too late than have any regrets."

Kurenai gave a soft smile towards the clan head. She was happy to see the change in the uncaring, judgemental Hiashi she had known when she had taken on his daughter as her student. Things in the Hyuuga household seemed to be changing for the better.

"…And you're fine with Hinata wanting to be with Naruto?" Iruka inquired.

"Of course. The boy has proven to be a fine shinobi of good potential on many occasions, has become the personal apprentice one of the sennin themselves, and I hold no grudges over the burden he carries. And don't think that I have been completely blind to my daughter's emotions all this time. While I may not have been the most supportive father in her earlier years, I was still able to see that Hinata has been holding the affections for the Uzumaki boy for a long time now; I would have to be utterly heartless to make the two separate," Hiashi replied, gaining the respect of Iruka, Tsunade, and Kakashi. "Plus, from what I've heard about the two so far, I'm fairly certain I would not have to worry about the boy taking advantage of my daughter in any way."

After a short pause due to all the others being shocked at the stoic Hyuuga leader cracking a joke, the room burst into an uproar of laughter. True, any other boy who had a girl coming onto him like this most likely would have dragged her to the nearest area with four walls and ripped both of their clothes off in a heartbeat, but not Naruto. If anything, most people were worried of Naruto waking up one day tied to a love-hotel bed naked. Unless you were one the many shinobi betting on that.

After the laughter died, Yamato began to once again reveal the chalkboards, and Tsunade turned back to Hiashi to ask the man one final question. "So, this means you're not going to be interfering in Hinata's future relationship with Naruto?" the Hokage stared into Hiashi's byakugan eyes seriously, intently awaiting an answer.

Hiashi raised a brow curiously. He thought he had already made that clear. "No, of course not."

All of a sudden, after erasing their initial confusion about the man's previous actions, the shinobi suddenly came to realization. More than half of the bar let out a long, upset groan. Now Hiashi was confused. Were they all… **disappointed** by his answer?

Tsunade merely grew a triumphant grin. "Hey, Shin!" she called to the bartender, "You can erase that board now!" The bartender nodded, grabbing a rag and walking in the direction the Hokage was pointing.

Hiashi turned to look towards the board she was pointing at to find out the reason for the sudden fuss. His pupiless eyes fell upon a board with his name written at the top, and judging by the fact that half of the possible bets underneath were methods killing or maiming a person, Hiashi deduced that they were gambling on his reaction to finding out about his daughter and the jinchuuriki's relationship. From the sounds of it, a lot of people had just lost their money because of his response.

The Hyuuga head read through some of the list before the chalk was wiped away. _'Shotgun wedding… death by family sword… heart attack… castration – 3 to 1 odds... disowning my own daughter? What kind of cold bastard do these people think I am?' _

Hiashi was broken out of his thoughts when an ANBU member suddenly appeared on top of the counter, kneeling in front of the Hokage. The entire room went silent and everyone seemed to gather around the ninja, giddy to hear the latest antics of Konoha's most entertaining pair.

"Hokage-sama," the ANBU wearing a boar mask started, struggling to get his words out. Despite his concealed face, it was fairly easy to tell that he was fighting a fit of giggles. This made the shinobi in the bar even more anxious to hear the new developments between Naruto and Hinata.

"Spit it out already, I gotta hear this!" Tsunade snapped at the ANBU operative, losing her patience.

The masked man quickly composed himself and resumed. "Sorry Hokage-sama, but you're going to like this one. It appears that Hinata Hyuuga is currently outside of Naruto Uzumaki's apartment, and… let's just say – she has her byakugan active and one hand down her pants." The ANBU member could not help but giggle some more, though the other shinobi were all biting their tongues, hoping there would be more to the story.

"Wow, did not expect that from shy little Hinata! I wonder what Naruto's doing that's got her so fired up right now. Is he showering or something?" Tsunade fought back a fit of giggles to ask.

"Actually, I've been told Uzumaki is in a very similar situation, only with a… rather _revealing_ picture that Hinata slipped him earlier today." The ANBU abandoned hope of reporting the rest of the events of the day as he fell into the contagious laughter that now dominated the room.

"Oh Kami, the irony!" Tsunade bellowed inbetween laughs, tears falling from her eyes. As the customers of the bar all buckled over in laughter, some shinobi who had this week in the pool crossed their fingers in hopes that tonight would be the night one of them made their move, while those who didn't prayed for them to hold out a bit longer. Some people were trying desperately to stave off their amusement to ask for the details on how exactly Naruto came to possess said picture, while others did not care.

"Oh man, reminds me of my wife. She used to give me little _incentives_ just like that to help me get through the tough missions," Inoichi reminisced.

"Yeah, same. I always told my wife it was way too troublesome being apart for so long," the Nara added. "What about you Choza, your lady ever do anything like that for you?"

"No, she just used to bake me an 'I'll miss you' cake." The other two members of the older generation Ino-Shika-Cho trio renewed their laughter after that comment. _'Should've expected that from an Akamichi'_ they both mused.

Out of the entire bar of hysterical shinobi, the loudest were Izumo and Kotetsu, currently cheering over the rest of the group and high-fiving each other. "I told you Kotetsu, the byakugan is the **ultimate** pervy jutsu!"

"Yeah, you were right man, I owe you one! Next round's on me buddy!"

"Yo, Tsunade!" Izumo called to the Hokage, "You heard the man, she was peeping with her byakugan! Now pay up!"

Tsunade could not even bring herself to frown at the loss of money at the moment, as she found the situation too funny to stop laughing. She opened up a box filled with ryo, and read from the paper laid on top. After confirming their bet and the amount, she double-checked the odds, did a little math, and passed a hefty wad of ryo to the two chuunin.

Kotetsu took the money from her and began counting it in his hands. He let out a low whistle in awe of the amount they had just won. "Wow, this totally makes up for the money we lost betting Hiashi would chop the kid's balls off; three to one odds my ass! In fact, we're actually up 2000 ryo!" Kotetsu exclaimed, high-fiving his long-time partner again before pocketing the cash and buying the two of them another round of sake.

Sick of hearing so many people talking about his daughter in such a lewd scenario, a forgotten Hiashi Hyuuga got up and reluctantly left the bar after conceding that even he could not kick the asses of so many shinobi at once. _'I cannot control what she does with Uzumaki-san behind closed doors, but I will not let her become a public spectacle this way! I believe it is too late for her to be out, it is time I retrieve her and bring her back to the compound for the night... And by that, I mean go tell Neji to retrieve her for the night.'_

* * *

**A/N: So how did you enjoy? I gave you all the characters you know and love: Tsunade, Iruka, Anko, Izumo and Kotetsu (even their names are inseparable), Sasuke, Ino-Shika-Cho (1****st**** gen), Orichimaru, Kabuto, and many more characters who have already appeared in this fic, and even an OC clan! (Which… does pretty much nothing but tend a bar in my fic) What more could you want? Oh, some NaruHina action you say? Well wait no longer! …Actually, wait a little longer, cause next chapter, there's gonna be a little lime in your coke! (Not sure why I just pulled that reference… But what I am trying to say is that there will be a lime. Those of you who read the top A/N may be able to guess what is going to happen. ;) )**

**Hope you liked this omake, filled with gambling, light Sakura bashing, old references supporting NaruSasu, and an eerily ok-with-all-of-this Hiashi. How was it? Lemme know! **

**FOLLOW/FAVE/REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 6: The Switch

**A/N: Chapter 6 is up! Unfortunately, I regret to inform you I have some bad news. The fabled upcoming lime which was supposed to be in this chapter will be slightly delayed. I apologise, I swear it wasn't my fault! Well, **_**technically**_** it was cuz I write this fic, but I had every intention of including the scene in this chapter! You see, the problem is, somewhere along the line, this chapter ended up being MASSIVE. Like, it's nearly twice as long as usual, and I haven't even gotten to the lime yet! Rather than upload a chapter roughly three times longer than the rest, I decided to break it up into pieces for consistency's sake. This is the first part of the chapter, and the lime will be in one of the next two, depending on the final length of it all. As said, I have already written much more of what will be the next chapter(s), so I should be able to upload soon! I just wanted to get this part out after making the decision, rather than keep you guys waiting longer and releasing all the chapters at once.**

**To make it up to you guys, I've been thinking about adding another little bonus omake, a lemon telling the story of Tenten and Neji the night of the sleepover. If you're interested, or if you just want me to stick with the NaruHina stuff, let me know in the reviews!**

**Thank you for your patience, now enjoy the chapter!**

**(P.S. I'm not sure if no one guessed what I based the name of the bar and clan in the last chapter off of because no one knew, or if no one cared. (Last time I try to interact with my audience, hmph) Either way I might as well say it, if for nothing else for my own sanity. The name of the bar, 'Hidden Horizon,' was inspired by my favourite Japanese band(s) Sound Horizon & Linked Horizon, both led by Revo (name of the clan). If you haven't heard of them, check them out, they're pretty awesome. Linked Horizon is the band that made the theme songs for Attack on Titan (Guren No Yumiya = best theme song EVER)**

**Sorry for the long intro, I tend to ramble, I'll try to shorten them in the future. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I also know jack-shit about my relationships. NEVER TAKE MY RELATIONSHIP ADVICE. All relationship advice in this fic is totally pulled out of my ass, and I hold no responsibility for any relationships harmed or killed following it. **

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Kyuubi Thoughts'**_/**"Kyuubi Speech in Mindscape"**

* * *

Hinata was walking down the streets of Konoha one bright morning. It was a beautiful day; it was rather warm and there was a soothing breeze. The clear skies and chirping birds had everyone at ease.

Everyone except Hinata Hyuuga. Today was the most nervous the heiress had been in weeks. As she cruised through the village roads, Hinata was unable to focus on anything except for what she was about to do. Fortunately, the route she was taking had become so familiar to her over the past days that her feet seemed to subconsciously navigate it, otherwise she surely would have gotten lost in her daze of uncertainty.

The reason the blue-haired heroine is nothing but a bundle of nerves this fine day is because she is preparing to make a very bold move on her oblivious love-interest. Granted, her past attempts at capturing her crush's gaze – and unmentionable body parts – were not exactly subtle, though they still did not yield any results. Hinata had tried time and again, casting aside her inhibitions as best she could, just to get her orange-clad love to notice her. She had bought more revealing clothes, she had tried flirting, she had shown up in his apartment half-naked for Kami's sake, all to no avail. No, she would have to resort to more drastic measures in order to get through to this particularly thick knucklehead; Ino had made that quite clear.

* * *

**Flashback**

"And you're telling me he didn't try **anything**?!" Ino half-questioned, half-shouted in shock. Hinata had come to her and Tenten to talk about her previous failed seduction of her crush. The three sat at their favourite café, each taking bites of their meals when one of the others spoke.

"No," a disappointed Hinata replied.

"Are you serious?! He didn't make a move? Sneak a peek? Steal a kiss? Ask you out? **Nothing**?!" the rambunctious kunoichi asked in disbelief. The heiress in front of her merely shook her head. "No way! I was sure that would work! Hell, if I were him, I would've just run in there and humped you so hard you would've coughed out your uterus!"

Tenten and Hinata both sweat-dropped at the rather graphic declaration. "Um… thanks…" Hinata responded awkwardly.

"Don't worry Hinata, you'll get Naruto sooner or later. He's gonna realize what an amazing catch you are eventually," Tenten said in hopes of raising the pupiless kunoichi's spirits.

"What did you do to er… _attract_ Neji during Naruto-kun's sleepover?" Hinata asked, looking to get some ideas.

"To be honest, Hinata… I didn't really do anything. A while after we started dancing, he just grabbed my hand and practically dragged me over to the bathroom." The other two kunoichi looked a bit disbelieving; neither of the two could picture the prim and proper Neji Hyuuga being the one to make a move like **that**. Picking up on what the other two were thinking, the weapon mistress spoke again. "It was probably just the sake though. He had quite a bit to drink beforehand." And with this reminder, the world made sense again.

"You know who you should ask?" the excitable ninja said rhetorically. "Kurenai! I heard she was going out with our sensei, and you know how Asuma is; he's practically as lazy as Shika! Kurenai must've done something pretty big to get **him** off his ass!" Ino stated, looking proud of herself for the idea.

However, Hinata's face just drooped. "I already have. She said Asuma was the one who asked her out, completely out of the blue."

"Damn. Well don't bother asking me; I've already given you pretty much my whole playbook," the mind-walker discouraged.

Hinata was beginning to feel hopeless now. She had tried everything and then some, but simply could not get Naruto interested in her. Why was this so difficult for her, when everyone else barely had to try to get their boyfriends? "Perhaps it just was not meant to be," Hinata said in a grim monotone more befitting on her cousin, her eyes downcast. "Maybe Naruto-kun will just never return my feelings."

"Don't say that!" Tenten argued. "He'll come around, we just gotta find out how to break through that thick skull of his."

The Hyuuga heiress did not seem reassured by her friend's words. "What is there that I have not tried yet? He'll never see me as anything but a friend."

At that moment, a light bulb went off in Ino's head. Her head shot back to her depressed friend. "Wait, I think I might know the problem is!" she blurted. Hinata, who had given her full attention to this new hope, looked up expectantly, holding back the tears which were previously threatening to fall. "Tell me, when you've caught Naruto checking you out before, did he ever look… like he was feeling hesitant, or guilty or anything?" Ino asked urgently, leaning over the table to decrease the distance between her and Hinata.

Hinata leaned back a bit, becoming nervous as the intense blonde began invading her personal space. The heiress thought back hard, trying to recall the looks she would receive from her crush whenever she would model revealing clothing for him, or show up half-naked in his apartment. She made two realizations: the first was that she had done the latter far too many times lately to **not** get some, and the second was that Ino's description was true. The last time she had taken Naruto shopping, his look when he was inspecting her newest outfit matched exactly what Ino had said. He seemed as if he were feeling guilty of something every time his gaze lingered on a certain body part a bit too long. He seemed nearly terrified whenever he realized that she had noticed too. The time him and Sakura had found her in her underwear on Naruto's bed, the blonde had seemed as if he was fighting to look away, and before the door between them had closed fully, she could have sworn the his expression made him appear to be… ashamed? Self-loathing? Remorseful? It was tough to identify, probably because she had been not used to seeing such a look on the teen.

"Yes," Hinata replied, curious where Ino was going with this.

Ino snapped while wearing a smug grin, proud for having figured out why Konoha's knuckleheaded ninja had not made his move on his desperate admirer. "I think I know why Naruto hasn't tried anything yet. It's because he doesn't want to risk your friendship. He probably feels like having other sorts of feelings for you is wrong, and probably feels like he is betraying your trust or something when he pervs out on you. Yep, I've seen this happen before."

"So… she's getting friendzoned?" the ever straight-forward Tenten asked.

Ino gave an annoyed sigh. "Well, I _**guess**_ you could say that, if you want to simplify it…" The Yamanaka obviously was not pleased with her assessment being dumbed down. "But it really is more complicated than that; Naruto didn't put you in the friendzone because he doesn't like you like that – hell, for all I know, he might want you just as much as you want him. He's probably just doing it because he doesn't feel like he's good enough for you, or he's scared of rejection."

'_Naruto-kun… afraid of __**me**__ rejecting __**him**__?' _Hinata could not believe this ironic notion. While the lavender-eyed teen doubted her friend's psychiatric abilities, she was usually right when it came to relationships. But wait – what about his pink-haired teammate, Sakura? "If that's true, then why did he always ask out Sakura?" Hinata asked her blonde matchmaker. Tenten seemed to see the heiress' point, and both looked to Ino for an explanation to this flaw in her reasoning.

Ino began to respond without hesitation. "Come on Hinata, think back to our old academy days. Did you ever really see the two of them talk much? They didn't really become close until after they were put on the same genin squad, and by then Naruto had already made asking her out a habit."

Tenten, who was not in their class due to being a year older, looked to Hinata for confirmation. She could tell by the look of realization on the kunoichi's face that it was true. Ino was right, Naruto and Sakura had not hung out in the academy. In retrospect, Naruto never really hung out with anybody, a saddening thought which Hinata tried to suppress. The first time the two ninjas in training had actually talked, it had in fact been a request for a date, which Sakura had (violently) rejected. The two must not have become friends until far later, and it seemed their friendship had won out over Naruto's crush, as the two were closer than ever and the previously infatuated boy had not asked the pinkette out in ages.

With no more inconsistencies in Ino's theory, Hinata began to believe this could truly be the cause of Naruto's lack of – or rather, suppression of his interest in her. Whatever the reason, the only thing the heiress cared about at the moment was what course of action she should take to make the whiskered boy hers. "So what can I do?"

"Well, the easiest way would be to just tell him how you feel, so he knows that you want a more serious relationship too." Hinata slowly hung her head at this response. _'Of course… the one thing I can't do…'_ she thought to herself, sulking. Ino and Tenten offered sympathetic looks. The blonde knew she would get this kind of reaction, and it saddened her to see her friend this depressed. It really was the only method she knew to overcome this obstacle though.

"I've tried," the downtrodden kunochi mumbled, "but every time I do, I just cannot get the words to come out." She looked up again, her eyes shining with the tiniest sliver of hope and optimism left. "Isn't there anything else I can do?" she asked in a final, desperate plea for a solution.

Ino saw how much this meant to her Hyuuga friend, so she put her complete brainpower to use. The ponytailed kunoichi put her finger to her chin and thought deeply for an alternative. Tenten, unsure of what to say, just sat there and watched the relationship specialist think, as did Hinata.

Ino lowered her finger and looked directly into Hinata's large, pupiless eyes. The byakugan wielder became more worried than ever before. _'Please, please tell me you came up with something…'_ Hinata's spirits rose as the mind-walker grew a small grin, which she mirrored. There was mischief painted across Ino's grin, but Hinata did not care. She had long since proved that she would do next to anything to attain her dream of being with Naruto. "Well, there's one thing I can think of that might work." The heiress was on the edge of her seat with impatience. "We've just got to get him to see you as a woman, rather than just another friend, in an atmosphere free of judgement and guilt. We've got to make him want you 'til he can't fight his feelings anymore and just accepts them."

"Just tell me what to do!" Hinata blurted, losing her patience for all of her friend's vague answers.

"Alright, alright, I was just about to get to that! Here's my idea…"

* * *

**Back in the Present**

As Hinata neared her destination, she tried to dispel all of her doubts before she arrived. If she was going to do this, she would need to have confidence. Ino's plan would do no good if she could not bring herself to go through with it.

However, there was one hitch. While the Hyuuga kunoichi did not doubt her friend's plan, she had no idea how to execute it. When she came face-to-face with her target, how would she go about the switch? In order for the plan to work, Hinata was going to have to switch her and Naruto's weapon pouches. Naruto was a ninja! Surely even he would notice if someone were to take off his pouch and put one back on!

Hinata silently admonished herself for thinking in such away, and cast this doubt aside with the rest. Naruto would never let a blatant lack of foresight discourage him! If he did, he would not be the only ninja to wear bright orange clothes exclusively! No, Naruto would figure out a way to make it work!

As her silent pep-talk ended, Hinata arrived at the training ground she had been walking to. Over the past week, Kakashi and Yamato had been training Naruto to use his chakra nature. When the byakugan-eyed teen heard of his specialized training, she had wanted to see what new tricks her crush would be learning. The last thing she had expected to see when she came to the training ground the next day was at least thirty, very shirtless, **very **sexy, Naruto's standing in front of a waterfall. By the time she had been able to take in the sight of the man who haunted her wet dreams, who stood bearing his glistening wet upper body, muscles flexing, blonde locks matted down from the water, his soaked pants clinging to his lower body, **TIMES THIRTY**… Well, let's just say she woke up in the Konoha hospital, being treated for blood loss.

The day after that, she came again, this time prepared, as she had plugged up her nose to prevent any more trips to the hospital. Hinata had borrowed the special nose plugs Kiba had gotten after his fight with Naruto in the chuunin exams, so she knew they must be completely airtight if they could block out an Inuzuka's sense of smell. Fortunately, the design somehow prevented them from making her voice nasally. She was not the only spectator, however, because Naruto's teammates Sakura and Sai had come also. They all marveled at the dedication it must have taken to put forth such effort into his training regimen.

Before Sakura and Sai left, Sakura left a basket of what looked like giant rabbit turds. Apparently they were homemade food pills. Hinata knew that the medic nin could cook about as well as Sai could socialize, and dreaded that she was making the only thing her wet love would have to eat during his training sessions. So the sympathetic girl decided to do her crush a favour, and left for Ichiraku's, bringing back a fresh bowl of Naruto's favourite ramen. When he caught the scent, he immediately took a lunch break. Hinata was rewarded for her good deed by getting to sit down to a nice picnic lunch with the wet, half-naked Adonis while they talked about… something. In fact, Naruto had been so grateful that he had offered her an open invitation to come anytime, and had gifted her with the most arousing hug of her life. Her lower body now knew how that waterfall felt.

Of course the lavender-eyed shinobi took him up on the offer, and every day since then had come at lunch with two bowls of steaming ramen – _and_ a lawn chair and enough lemonade to last the training session – you know, so she could stick around and… _support_ him. It was fairly easy to fit into her schedule, as her team usually finished training rather early, while the infamously late Kakashi always started Naruto's later in the day. For the next few days the two would eat together after her arrival, and after Naruto went back to his training his admirer would set up her chair under the shade of the tree and _support_ him. As she lied down, her unwavering gaze fixated on her crush – er, _crushes_, she would receive an unexpected urge. _'Hmm… Perhaps I should write a book. I wonder who Jiraiya-sama's publisher is…'_

Today, just like any other day, the Hyuuga heiress walked onto the training ground with her bowls of Ichiraku takeout. The field looked the same today as the previous, except far less… _erotic_. Where was Naruto?

"Excuse me, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata politely asked the copycat ninja, "Where is Naruto-kun?"

"Oh, well he finished the second stage of his training, so I let him take a break to rest up before the next. He went into the forest there if you want to look for him, I know he'd hate it if his ramen went cold," the cyclops responded, pointing to a wooded area.

'_Wait, does that mean… No more sexy waterfall training?! Noooooo!'_ the crestfallen girl mentally cried out. Attempting to stay optimistic, she quietly prayed that the next stage of his training would somehow involve him being oiled-up and wrestling with his clones.

Before the disheartened teen let her thoughts become too depraved, she reminded herself that she was there with a purpose, and headed in the direction Kakashi had pointed in search of the absent Uzumaki.

After a good five minutes of roaming through the forest, she came upon a river. It was wide and the water was calm. What caught Hinata's eye though were the clothes sloppily discarded by the water's edge. As soon as the heiress saw the orange, she knew who these clothes belonged to.

Her crush must have gone for a relaxing swim in the river, how convenient! This would make switching their weapon pouches easy! As the Hyuuga activated her byakugan to quickly search the nearby area, she realised how foolish she was to have doubted herself before. Deactivating her bloodline trait after deeming the area clear, Hinata scurried quickly to the pile of clothing. She picked Naruto's pouch out of the pile, replacing it with her own. _'Done! That was too easy! Now I guess I'll just…'_ Before Hinata could finish her thought about looking for Naruto, she came to a glorious realization.

'_Naruto-kun's clothes are here.'_

'_**All**__ of Naruto-kun's clothes are here.'_

'_All of Naruto-kun's clothes are here, and he is not in them.'_

'_Right now, Naruto-kun is somewhere in this river, __**completely naked**__.'_

You know what's nicer than having a picnic lunch with a half-naked Naruto? Having a picnic lunch with a **fully **naked Naruto. Perhaps if she gave away her own bowl, Hinata could even earn another hug?

Acting on pure hormonal impulse, Hinata swiftly snatched the whiskered shinobi's discarded outfit and leaped a short distance away from the river. The lavender-eyed kunoichi ditched the unnecessary garments behind a tree before returning to the body of water.

As if on cue, Hinata saw a fast-moving object down the stream approaching her location. As it came nearer, it was easy to tell that it was in fact Naruto. Once the boy was able to identify the person standing beside the river, he hastened his pace to close the remaining distance between them.

"Ohayo, Hinata-chan!" he called merrily. As he reached the edge of the river, he propped his arms on the ground by the water's edge, beaming at his lunch companion. "Is it lunch already? Sorry, I lost track of time, heheh," the naked shinobi said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it Naruto-kun," Hinata responded just as happily. She raised the ramen bowls in her arms for the blonde to see. "I brought you miso this time."

"Awesome, you're the best Hinata-chan!" The heiress greatly enjoyed the _chan_ suffix her crush had started adding to her name; it made her feel closer to the boy, and she could not help but smile when she heard it. "Uh, Hinata-chan? You wouldn't have happened to see my clothes around, have you?" the wet teen asked, looking further down the river.

Hinata put every ounce of acting ability into her words as she tried to sound as innocent as possible. "No, I am afraid I have not. Did you lose them?"

Naruto scratched his head in confusion. "I was sure I left them right here! They should be here, unless… Someone took them…" Hinata began to sweat at this, afraid that her crush had figured out her perverted game. The knuckleheaded ninja had a pointed, thoughtful looked for a few seconds, before blurting out, "Yamato! That bastard must be getting back at me for tiring him out so much with all my training!"

Hinata felt relieved to have a scapegoat. "Well I'll show him what happens when you mess with the leaf village's number one prankster!"

"You can get your revenge on Yamato-sensei later, why don't we eat our ramen before it gets cold?" the byakugan wielder interrupted the boy's rant to suggest. It took all of Hinata's willpower to resist the devious grin pulling at her lips.

"Sounds good, pass me mine," the blonde said with outstretched hands.

"Oh no you don't," the heiress said playfully, "You can't eat you ramen in the river! You don't want to spill it, or get it covered in river water!" Hinata finished with a giggle. She walked a few feet away from where Naruto was treading water and sat down, patting the grass beside her. "Come out so you can have your ramen," she beckoned to him.

Naruto did not leave his spot, but instead just painted his cheeks red with a heavy blush. "Uh… I can't, you see, I sorta… I sorta got nothing' on right now, heheh…" he responded, embarrassed.

"Really? Oh, that's too bad. Well, no point wasting perfectly good food. I guess I will have to have your ramen too," the sly kunoichi teased, picking up her chopsticks and taking the cover off the first bowl. She attempted to keep herself composed, but was inwardly jumping up and down like a giddy child at the possibility of getting her first non-byakugan peek at what the orange-clad shinobi hid beneath all that orange. Byakugan vision really was not all it was cracked up to be when it came to peeping, and left a lot to be desired.

As expected, this got to Naruto. If there was one thing the boy could not refuse, it was ramen. The embarrassed ninja went over his options, before being struck by a stroke of genius. Smirking proudly at his cleverness and creativity, the jinchuuriki suddenly formed a handseal. Hinata was confused by this, wondering what the blonde could be up to before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When the cloud cleared, before her stood – a fully clothed Naruto?

"Oh man, I swear the transformation jutsu is the most underated technique ever!" the blonde exclaimed. That was when Hinata realized what had happened. Apparently Naruto had just henged into a dressed version of himself. _'Kuso! Thwarted by an academy level jutsu.'_ The Hyuuga girl inwardly cursed her crush's inventiveness. It was one of the things she had always admired about him, but at the same time it could be a pain in the ass when used against you.

Despite the disappointing amount of clothes, the lunch was enjoyable as usual. Without the welcome distraction, Hinata was actually able to contribute to their conversations this time around. They spent the next half hour eating and laughing. The blonde really did have a delightful sense of humor, and Naruto thought the same of Hinata when she managed to speak up. Their time together came to an end too soon for the content Hyuuga when the boy accompanying her got up to go and find out what the next stage of his training would be.

Hinata made up an excuse for why she would not be able to watch the rest of his training session. The anticipation of the results of Ino's plans were starting to build up inside of her, along with some remnants of self-doubt, so she decided it best to give herself some space from her crush for now. _'…Wait! The pouch!' _Hinata suddenly realized, having completely forgotten the mission she had come here with today. If Naruto left without his pouch then her work would all have been for naught, and Hinata doubted she would get as good an opportunity for the switch next time.

As the forgetful jinchuuriki walked towards the training ground, Hinata cleared her throat loud enough to catch his attention, causing him to turn back to look to the girl behind him. "Aren't you forgetting something, Naruto-kun?" Hinata reminded Naruto. He looked confused for a second, before coming to the realization his friend was hinting at.

"Oh yeah! I forgot, I'm still technically naked right now, aren't I?" Naruto half-asked with a slight blush. Hinata merely nodded in response. "Think you could help me find where Yamato hid my clothes?" The girl in question happily agreed. After a few minutes of _searching_ for the missing outfit, Hinata _found_ it hidden behind a nearby tree. Naruto thanked her and awkwardly forced it on overtop of his pseudo-clothes.

"Thanks a bunch, it would've been really embarrassing if the jutsu just ended after the training started tiring me out. Boy would Kakashi and Yamato've been in for an eyeful!" The blonde chuckled at the thought as he dispelled the henge, releasing the strain on his clothes as the second layer underneath vanished.

Now that she had thought about it, Hinata was beginning to regret her decision. _'Damn my memory. I definitely would have stuck around to see that.'_ With the thought of tens of Naruto's standing in front of her as their clothes literally poofed out of existence in her head, Hinata departed, heading directly to her room and locking the door.

* * *

**In Hiashi's Study**

"You summoned me, Hiashi-sama?" Neji said as he entered the study, closing the door behind him. In front of him sat his uncle, his stone face bearing the same serious expression as always.

"Yes, please sit," Hiashi responded. He gestured to the seat in front of himself, which was promptly occupied by his obedient nephew.

"What is it you wish to speak of uncle," Neji reverently asked in his usual monotone.

"I have a small errand for you. You see, I-"

"Oooooohhhh" The sound was muffled by the walls, obviously distant, but nonetheless sufficient enough to derail Hiashi's train of thought.

"What is the errand?" the branch member asked his clan leader, ignoring the previous noise.

"Well, I plan to bo-"

"Ooooooo, yes…" This time the sound was louder, and once again created an awkward pause in the two Hyuugas' conversation.

"Ahem," Hiashi cleared his throat, acting like the awkward silence had not existed. "I plan to borrow some cla-"

"Yes, ooohhhh, yes!" The voice was slowly increasing in volume.

"I apologise, sir, but I did not catch that."

"Yes. I plan to borrow some clan fu-"

"More! Please, more!"

"-borrow some clan fu-" By this point, Hiashi had decided to just power through the disturbances.

"Soooo good!"

"-BORROW SOME CLAN FUNDS TO MA-"

"Oh, oh, oh Kami-sama!"

At this point Hiashi was raising his voice to speak over the noises, which were now ringing clearly through the walls. The voice was loud enough to be identified, though the two Hyuuga's did not need to listen to know who the voice belonged to. They were all too accustomed to the occasional disturbance.

"-TO MAKE AN IN-"

"Ooooohhhhh YES!"

"-AN INVEST-"

"ALMOST THERE!"

"-INVESTMENT, AND I-"

"KAMI, YESSSS!"

Both Neji and Hiashi, with the exception of the clan leader's shouts, were doing well in masking their frustration with the distant cries of female ecstasy. Despite their best efforts to hide their awareness of them, the thoughts of the two Hyuuga's were completely preoccupied by the noises.

'_She is your cousin. She is your cousin. SHE IS YOUR __**COUSIN**__.'_ Neji frantically chanted in his mind, fighting off the urges he knew he should not be having towards a family member. However, it was impossible to simply ignore the wails projecting through the paper-thin walls of the Hyuuga compound. _'Just… Just imagine it's Tenten…. Bad idea, __**BAD IDEA!**__'_ The branch member rued his poor decision, feeling his thoughts were progressively becoming more wrong. While he held back his growing arousal, unbeknownst to him his uncle was fighting a similar mental battle.

'_Wow… She really is the spitting image of Hitomi… She even sounds like her mother, when she – Bad thought Bad thought BAD THOUGHT __**BAD THOUGHT! ! !**__'_

"-AND I WANT YOU T-"

"OHHH FUCK! OHHHHHH"

"-TO TELL AKIRA TO HAVE HINATA'S ROOM SOUNDPROOFED **TODAY! ! !**"Hiashi shouted with haste before his words were once again drowned out, abandoning his original agenda. This issue was **far** more pressing anyways. Plus it would give the clan leader more time to come up with a way of rationalizing to the Hyuuga accountants his reasons for _investing_ such a big portion of clan funds gambling in a bar. If they were to ask what it was he was betti – er, _investing_ in, they would be even less pleased. Knowing the accountants would definitely be giving him a furious headache over the matter, Hiashi was tempted to just keep quiet until he got his payout and let his winnings speak for him.

All too glad to have permission to finally get as far away as possible, Neji gave a swift nod to his uncle and bolted towards the branch house to find the aforementioned Hyuuga. Hiashi followed suit just as hurriedly, heading to the gardens to calm down through meditation.

* * *

**In Hinata's Room**

The heavily breathing heiress fixed her clothes and wiped the sweat off her brow so no one would be able to tell what she had just been doing. Unfortunately Hinata, who always lost herself in the heat of things when pleasuring herself, was still bafflingly unaware of just how loud she gets during her ministrations.

Hinata was glad to have never been caught in the act before, though this was only because everyone in the house with ears already knew what she was doing, unbeknownst to her. Fortunately, Hinata was blissfully ignorant to the ironic situation, otherwise she most likely would have died of embarrassment. Neither Neji nor Hiashi had ever said anything to the lavender-eyed Hyuuga because they too were too embarrassed to mention it. Hanabi had never said anything to her sister because she was still too young to know what it was she was doing, and Hiashi had made sure she would not be finding out anytime soon. Since Hinata had begun exploring her body, her father had made it **very** clear to her sister that she was not to **ever** disturb her sister when she gets loud, telling her Hinata may be as loud as she wants. He also made it clear **never** to question what her sister was doing during these noisy periods.

It was funny really, how a girl so quiet could become so loud when you least wanted her to, though none of her family members could find the humor in it. Hiashi thought that perhaps since Hanabi was always the louder sister, she would turn out the opposite, though the Hyuuga patriarch was not willing to take that chance. He had withheld all information of sexual nature from her, not even giving her the talk he gave Hinata after her sister became a genin herself. He simply prayed that she would be a late bloomer. A **very** late bloomer. And hey, if the rumors of his eldest daughter attempting to get a boyfriend who could relieve them of hours of awkward, torturing disturbances by… _relieving_ her elsewhere were true, who was he to interfere with this blessing?

The satisfied kunoichi simply basked in the post-orgasmic euphoria, wondering if her crush had gone home yet. Her mind now thinking less dirty thoughts, though of the same person, Hinata felt only anticipation. Despite her resolve not to worry, the heiress still could not resist wondering what Naruto's reaction would be to her friend's plan.

The reason this particular plan was getting Hinata so much more worked up than the others is because she was about to take a very bold chance. Worst of all, she would not even be present to see if it would pay off. For you see, inside the weapon pouch Hinata had switched with Naruto's, in the compartment usually reserved for shuriken, lied a stack of dirty pictures instead. But these were not just any dirty pictures; these were self-photographed dirty pictures of the Hyuuga heiress herself. Ino had even forced her to buy a playnin magazine as a reference, since the reserved girl had refused her friend's offer to take on the role of photographer in preference of a camera with a timer, to ensure she would know how to pose for maximum appeal. Sometime today, Naruto would open his weapon pouch to check on it or refill it and find the collection of photos of Hinata in the skimpiest outfits available – well, in the pictures where she **is** wearing an outfit. That's right. Naruto was about to see **all** of her, in her naked glory. Though she may have come close, her crush had never seen her completely naked, so this would be the first time. As if that was not enough to make the still body-conscious girl nervous beyond compare, she would not even be there to see his reaction.

Sure, while still in the planning stages, Hinata, who tried to remain optimistic, had been tempted to tail the jinchuuriki home to catch the _show_ that was inevitable in the best-case scenario. However, the risk of being caught had discouraged her from doing so. What possible excuse could she give? 'Oh hey, I was just following you home to watch you beat your meat to the pictures I stuck in your kunai pouch.' _Yep, that wouldn't sound creepy at all._

All that was left for Hinata to do was wait and hope Ino was right.

* * *

**A/N: Hope that was worth your while, and I didn't upset you too much by delaying the lime. If you're a true Naruto fan, you should be used to disappointing (INFURIATING) delays, as yet another episode has been delayed this week! I'm pretty sure that's two in a fucking row! One episode EVERY OTHER WEEK is not enough fucking Naruto for me! Aggggghhhhhhh! This is why I like watching animes that have already ended: they don't keep you waiting like this, you can just totally binge out on them.**

**Will Ino's plan to get Naruto and Hinata together work? Will Naruto's wind chakra training involve him getting oiled up and wrestling his clones? Will Hiashi's **_**investments**_** pay off? Will Hanabi be a late bloomer? Will any of my younger audience get this old soap-opera reference? Or this old Family Guy reference? Find out in the next chapter! Pce!**

**FOLLOW/FAVE/REVIEW/FORGIVE ME!**


	9. Chapter 7:Picture Tells a Thousand Words

**A/N: And here it is, the long awaited lime chapter! Grab some popcorn and a bottle of lube, hopefully this is gonna be a good one! Its rather long (Kurama wouldn't shut up), but hopefully not too much! This is my first time writing anything sexual by the way, so I hope its arousing enough, please give me some feedback! Since you guys have been supporting me with all of your appreciated comments over the last few chapters, I decided to respond to a few of your questions and what not again. I can't take up the whole fic answering all of them, so don't feel offended if your's isn't mentioned, I read and appreciate all of them!**

** g: Thank you, mysterious guest, for reviewing so many of my chapters! In response to the upload 3 (chap 2) review, as stated in Chapter 1, Jiraiya uses the enhanced sensory abilities of sage mode to check the town for any and all things perverted, that's how he always just seems to be there. In response to your upload 6 (chap 5) review – I hope you mean what I think you mean, in which case – pics? I hope this chapter puts you into Hinata's position too ;)**

** SilentSambo88: Thank you for pointing that error out! I completely forgot about the Bikochu mission when I was writing that chapt. I honestly liked the filler arc, as a NaruHina fan, and in general it was done pretty well compared to a lot of the other shit-on-a-stick fillers (I lost all repect for Kotetsu after he was nearly killed by an OSTRITCH. Sorry, a NINJA Ostritch). I don't have any plans to reference the episode, so for now we'll just say it didn't happen in this fic's timeline. If for some reason I forget and DO reference it, just assume Hinata forgot or didn't count it cuz it was too dark for Naruto to see anything. If he could actually make out any of the details of her private parts, I'm sure he would have been able to make out her face, or at least her identifiable hairdo. Sorry I posted this before the NejiTen lemon, but as I said, I've never written a sex scene before, so I wanted to practice with this lime and work my way up. I'll post the omake next.**

** ImaSoBored: Denseness is a word, I googled it. I thought it was density, but apparently that isn't the one to use in that context. As for Jiraiya, don't worry, his karmic punishment is coming, just wait. And I love Anko too. :3**

** Bad News: Well, I tried. Didn't expect many people to fall for the troll, but I tried. No troll this time though, so enjoy. (Or is there? ;) )**

**Thank you, and everyone else who reviews! It always brightens up my mood to see someone complimenting my work, or saying that it made their day, or that they got a good laugh, or that they enjoy the characters I add in my recurring gags, and I'm really glad everyone seemed to love my take on Hiashi! Also nice to know there might be naked ladies reading this, this one's for you!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the things**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

'_**Kyuubi Thought'**_**/'Kyuubi Private Thought'/"Kyuubi Speech in Mindscape"**

* * *

Later that night, the Hyuuga heiress could be found inside her family's dojo. She had decided to distract herself from her thoughts of Naruto with a bit of light training. Up until now, it had been proving to be an effective strategy. That is, until she received a very sudden reminder, in the form of the boy himself.

"Hinata," the girl's father called to her as he entered the dojo, "there is someone at the door for you."

Hinata was surprised to hear this; it was quite unusual for her to receive visitors this late. It was already dark out, who could possibly be coming to see her? "Who is it father?" Hinata asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto has come to see you," Hiashi responded emotionlessly.

Hinata froze. She had to make a conscious effort to continue to breathe. _'Naruto-kun? __**Here**__? Why would Naruto-kun come here? Looking for __**me**__? Did he already-'_ Hinata's mind was a jumbled mess, trying to decode what she was hearing. Why would Naruto come here at this hour? There was no other plausible explanation; he must have discovered the pictures she had left him. But what did this mean? The fact that he came to see her must be a good sign, right? It's not like he would waste his time coming here just to tell her he **didn't** like the pictures and **wasn't** interested in her, right? Still, Hinata had never imagined that the Yamanaka's plan would turn Naruto around so quickly!

After a couple minutes of silence, Hiashi made to walk back out of the dojo. Before he left, he asked his daughter, "Are you going to go see him, or should I tell him you do not want any company right now?"

"NO!" Hinata cried in panic, snapping out of her trance. "I mean, yes, I will see him now." As she approached the door of the building, Hinata desperately struggled to keep cool and composed. She wiped away the sweat accumulated from her exercise and neatened her slightly mussed hair, wanting to appear as presentable as possible. She arrived at the door, took a deep inhale, and released it as she opened the door.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. What brings you here?" Hinata asked in genuine curiosity. Her suspicions about him having seen the images were confirmed by his face alone. He was flushed, obviously thoroughly flustered over something, and the amount of sweat he was secreting could rival Lee after one of his workouts. Not to mention his nerves were keeping him from making eye contact.

Before the blonde could even answer, Hinata's imagination flooded with possibilities. _'Is he here to ask me out? Will he confess he likes me? Maybe even… loves me? Perhaps the photos were too much for him and he needs me to satisfy the urges I instilled in him? What if he cannot wait any longer, and plans to take me right here, and pound away at my virgin pussy until he is sated? Thank Kami-sama Akira soundproofed my room today for some reason!'_

While Hinata's imagination went in a rather… _Icha Icha-esque _direction, Naruto worked up the courage to speak, his eyes glued to the ground. Before he uttered a word, he outstretched an arm towards the excited kunoichi. In his hand was the weapon pouch which he was uncertain of how he came into possession of. "I, uhh… Think we accidentally mixed up our kunai pouches, or uh, something," he stammered, unsure of how to explain how he had known the pouch belonged to her without admitting to seeing the pictures inside. It's not like ninjas left their names on them; they were all just the same grey leather pouches. Hinata was smart, she was bound to realize it. Naruto had stopped questioning when the two of them could have switched their pouches as he became more focused on escaping the situation before it got awkward, or Hinata got angry at him. _'At least this didn't happen with Sakura,' _he mused. _'She would've hung my nuts in a sack… well, a __**different**__ sack, and used them as a punching bag.'_

Hinata was extremely confused by this. More than that, she was extremely disappointed in this outcome. _'Figures… Does Naruto __**have**__ to be a freaking gentleman all the time? I give him naked pictures of me, and he __**returns**__ them!'_

Not knowing what to do, Hinata took the pouch from his hand. She wanted to refuse it, she wanted to tell him she wanted him to see what was inside, but could not. She suddenly felt small, and felt she had lost most of the nerve she usually possessed around Naruto since he had returned from his training trip.

Before Hinata could retrieve her visitor's own weapon pouch, or even speak another word, the flustered blonde fled to the rooftops of Konoha. The heiress simply stared as he leapt away until he was no longer in view. Shutting the door, she slid to the ground with her back against it, tears leaking from her eyes.

Hinata felt absolutely crushed. Never had she been so let down in her life, to go from being so optimistic and excited to absolutely hopeless. In a way, this was the rejection she had always feared. She had shown him all of her, hoping he would accept her, hoping he would show some interest in her like Ino had promised. Instead, he just returned it; handed it back to her without any care. There was no confession, no asking her out, not even an admitting of any sort of attraction.

Refusing to let anyone else see her so broken, she gathered the strength to run back to her room where she could let all her sorrows out.

* * *

The heartbroken girl was not sure how long she had been sobbing, not that it mattered to her. Nothing did. As the last of her tears fell, Hinata raised her head from her pillow. She was still in emotional turmoil, but for whatever reason – Hinata guessed physical incapability – she had stopped crying.

She looked over to the kunai pouch she had thrown onto her dresser earlier. She stalked towards the dresser slowly and weakly grasped the leather accessory. Inside of this pouch was Hinata's final, desperate, last-ditch effort to attract the boy she had always loved, or at least had for most of her life. Of course, this ended just like everything else she ever did – in failure.

Gaining back a little bit of rational thinking capabilities, the brooding teen opened the pouch and began pulling out picture after picture, preparing to destroy them, lest someone else come in possession of one of them.

She dropped them each on top of the last, and decided it would be best to burn them. When Hinata stuck her hand back into the pouch and searched for the last photo, she found nothing but kunai left inside.

The sad girl was confused. Did she count wrong? She flipped through the pile and recounted. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… … ... No, there was definitely one more. Hinata could even remember which picture it was. She flipped the pouch over and spilled its contents onto her bed. Nothing but kunai. There was a picture missing, of this she was certain. But what happened to it? Did it fall out of the weapon pouch? Or perhaps…

Hinata's eyes, still puffy and red from crying, widened as a glimmer of hope came back to her. She hated herself for getting her hopes up again, but she had to confirm this for her sanity. She wiped the wetness from her face, which was now hardened with resolve. The female Hyuuga stuffed the remaining pictures into the bottom of her underwear drawer hoping no one else would find them there, and leapt out her window. Fortunately her father had gone to a bar earlier, which was unusual for him, but made sneaking out of the compound quite easy for the heiress. Hinata leapt through the village rooftops in a hurry to reach her destination.

* * *

Applying the stealth skills she learned from years as a ninja, Hinata silently dropped onto the balcony of her crush's apartment, ducking below the window before she could possibly be noticed. Peeking her head up, she noticed that the blinds were closed. This was a rare occurrence; Naruto did not often close the blinds. Hinata could only stipulate that, considering other people's tendencies to barge in uninvited on the jinchuuriki, he had done so to retain some privacy. The heiress would not be surprised if the front door had been locked for once too.

This only served to increase Hinata's hopes. She looked down to the streets, which were unsurprisingly dead, not a soul in sight. Turning back, Hinata reluctantly activated her byakugan. She was out of other options, and she refused to leave now before she found out what happened to the final picture.

As her doujutsu flared to life, the wall in front of her disappeared and she was gazing directly into Naruto's room. What she saw inside was none other than Naruto himself, his limbs splayed across his bed, with one arm held in front of his face. In his hand was, as Hinata had hoped, the missing picture. The Hyuuga voyeur covered her mouth as a quiet gasp of shock escaped; in her pessimistic mood she had not expected this would actually be true. The focus of Hinata's 360-degree vision eagerly shifted to a lower part of the boy's anatomy. Much to her glee, Naruto seemed to be reacting to the picture.

It was then that Hinata noticed her own building arousal from peeping on her crush. She could feel her damp panties clinging to her. Her nether regions were begging for attention, just as Naruto's was. What was strange to her was that the aroused teen had not done anything yet; he was merely staring blankly into the picture. Did he not know what he was supposed to do? Because Hinata would have been more than happy to teach him.

As she watched the befuddling blonde, she wondered what it was he was thinking right now as he stared at her naked form.

* * *

**With Naruto**

'_**Hey, kit,'**_ the kyuubi called to his container.

'_What is it now fox,'_ the displeased jinchuuriki replied, obviously not wanting to be bothered at the moment.

'_**Not that I care or anything, but are you gonna… you know, **_**do anything**_**, or are you just gonna keep sitting there? Again, not that I care, but somehow you just staring at that picture is way creepier than what most people would've been doing right now. Heck, I just finished off and you haven't even unzipped those Kami-awful orange pants of yours!'**_ Naruto grunted in disgust of what the fox had implied.

'_For the last fucking time, I told you not to do that inside me!'_ the frustrated boy snapped.

'_**Woah, woah, calm down you prude. Trust me, you should be thanking me. Getting myself off is about the only thing that keeps me sane in here. Without it, I'd probably be about as cranky as you are right now.'**_

'_I'm not cranky!' _Naruto mentally yelled, before forcing himself to tone it down a notch. _'I just… I just don't wanna talk right now.'_

The kyuubi picked up on the conflicted feelings of his host, and disregarded his container's hint for him to shut up. _**'You may not want to, but it sounds like you may **_**need**_** somoene to talk to right now. You're having some weird feelings about the vixen, aren't you kit?'**_ the kyuubi prodded in the closest thing to a caring voice the demon had ever used. For once, the demon was right on the mark with identifying his jinchuuriki's dilemma.

Though he was a bastard fox demon, Naruto figured the kyuubi must have some wisdom in him from his thousands of years of life experiences. Deciding to take a chance, the blonde began to confide in his sealed demon. _'I just… I've been having these strange feelings lately, whenever I hang out with her. But I mean, she's like my __**best**__ friend now, which is actually pretty weird considering she never used to talk to me before I left with ero-sennin. I __**just**__ started becoming close friends with her, and this is __**definitely**__ not something friends do to each other,'_ Naruto explained, referring to his current perverted situation. This was like something Jiraiya would do, and there was a reason his closest friend always yelled at him and beat him up. Then again, the two Sannins' situation was pretty identical to his relationship with Sakura, and they had maintained a good friendship. _'I just… I don't know what to do.'_ Naruto attentively awaited the wise old fox's advice.

'_**Nail her.'**_

'_Nani?!'_ the demon host exclaimed mentally. This was **not** the kind of advice he was hoping for. So much for _with age comes wisdom_.

'_**I said nail her kit. She seems like a good mate for you. Not to mention those have got to be the biggest-'**_

'_Shut it you perverted old fox. I'm sick of hearing this shit. This is wrong; I should've just returned this photo with the rest,'_ Naruto interrupted, offended the fox would think he would even consider doing such a thing with his best friend. Although, his current position said otherwise.

'_**No, you should have KEPT this photo along with the rest! For Kami's sake, this is the first time you actually get some grade-A pornographic material, and you just throw it away! Please don't tell me you are going to go back to beating your meat to those crappy Princess Gale movies like you used to,'**_ the demon fox groaned out.

Naruto went a bit red at this plea. _'Hey, how did you-'_

'_**Kit,' **_the fox interrupted, _**'just because you never spoke to me until the chuunin exams, does not mean I had not been watching what you did before then. I mean come on, you use the transformation jutsu to get sake but the thought never occurred to use it to buy some porn? I mean come on, there wasn't even any nudity in those movies! It's just pathetic! I swear to god, I still have that stupid kissing scene memorized from how much you used to replay it when you were younger.'**_

Naruto was both extremely embarrassed and offended by the fox's rant. _'Come on! I didn't watch it __**that**__ much!' _the blonde defended himself aggressively.

To make his point, the kyuubi actually began reciting the romantic kissing scene from the first Princess Gale movie. _**'I know I am but a lowly subject of yours, but before I go off to battle, I must let you know – I love you, Princess Gale,' **_kyuubi acted out in his best mock-impersonation of the male protagonist. _**'Hideki, I will not let you go without me. I will fight alongside you!' **_the nine tails said in a very unconvincing female voice, before switching back to the male one. _**'But princess, you have the whole kingdom to protect. And it would be an honor to fall in battle to keep you safe.' **_Back in female voice, kyuubi recited the last lines, _**'But Hideki, you are the one in the entire kingdom I want to protect most of all. I do not care if my father does not approve, I will not let him keep us apart. Please… kiss me… SPLAT'**_ Kurama added at the end, implying through the sound effect his host's climax at the end of the scene.

The jinchuuriki was left speechless, unable to come up with a response to save his dignity. He could never catch a break with the kyuubi. After all, he was just a kid back then, for Kami's sake. Can't the fox ever cut him some slack?

'_**Oh what's wrong kit, fox got your tongue? Finally willing to own up to your obsession with that Yukie vixen?'**_

'_I was __**not**__ obsessed!' _the blonde retorted.

'_**Sure you weren't kit. Just like you don't have a raging hard-on in that autographed picture you have where she kissed you on the cheek.' **_Naruto was really getting tired of the fox's sense of sarcasm.

'_HA! I was knocked out when that happened; I didn't have a boner! Gotcha you liar!'_ Naruto argued back, proud to have finally caught the fox in a lie.

'_**Oh really now? Perhaps you are forgetting the little dream you were having in that hospital bed, the one where Princess Yukie was giving her **_**'courageous and noble saviour'** _**a **_**proper**_** thank you kiss a little bit lower on the anatomy, if you know what I mean.' **_Naruto became even more flushed, being reminded of his rather dirty dream. He was too embarrassed to even get irritated by the mocking tone of voice his demon had used when describing him as the 'courageous and noble saviour'. Turning his head away from the picture in his hand for the first time since he got back from his awkward exchange with Hinata, he glanced at the photo in question. He had framed it and put it on his dresser, right beside his old photo of Team 7. Surely enough, careful inspection showed that, despite the design of the hospital blanket coincidentally doing good job at disguising it, his younger self had most definitely been sporting a tent beneath it. Naruto made a mental note to take the picture off his dresser and keep it somewhere out of sight.

The nine tailed fox merely snickered at having bested his host once again. Kurama believed Naruto definitely did not have any right to be calling either of his senseis perverts.

Getting back on topic, Naruto sternly told his demon, _'Look, I'm done jerking it to those movies, but I'm not gonna start perving on my friends either.'_

The demon sighed, tired of his container's constant compulsion to play the nice guy. _**'You know, kit, if you**_ **really**_** don't want that picture, I'd bet that Inuzuka teammate of hers would probably pay through the snout to get his hands on it. Mention it to him and he'd be begging and rolling over in an instant. Hell, he'd probably give you Akamaru just for one look at it!'**_

'_Enough, fox!' _Naruto nearly lost it at such an idea. The shinobi thought he was just angry at the idea of betraying his friend's trust like that, but he was also feeling a bit possessive and irked by the thought of someone else seeing the images, unbeknownst to even himself. _'I could never do that! Hinata would never forgive me if I started spreading private photos of her around the village! She's already gonna hate me enough when she finds out I kept this one for myself!'_

'_**And how would she find that out? What are you going to do with it?'**_

'_I have to do the right thing. I have to return it to her.'_ The usually exuberant blonde sounded very grave. He feared how his friend would react when she found out he had withheld the photo from her. She was probably embarrassed enough knowing he must have seen them in the first place to realize he had the wrong weapon pouch, she would probably be furious at him for committing this betrayal. The teen was lucky enough to have a girl as wonderful as her as a friend in the first place, and know he had possibly ruined their friendship. Naruto regretted his impulsive decision to keep the photo; damn his teenage hormones.

Kurama could sense the dread and regret in Naruto's voice. For the second time in their conversation, the nine tails went very out of character and attempted to reassure his jailor. _**'Look kit, if you feel that badly about it, just hide the picture somewhere. Even if you don't want to look at it anymore, you can just keep it a secret; nobody has to know.'**_

'_She'll probably notice there's one missing. There weren't a ton to begin with, and naked pictures of yourself are probably pretty hard to forget about. There's no way she won't notice, and then she'd come to me and find out I took it,'_ Naruto countered, sounding more uncharacteristically hopeless by the second.

'_**Just say it must have fallen out,' **_the fox suggested.

'_I could never lie to her like that. I never go back on my word. And aren't you forgetting she has the freaking __**byakugan**__! All it would take is one quick look into my apartment and she'd find it right away!'_

'_**Well then, if you are worried she'd find it, you will just have to white it out beyond recognition,' **_the demon jested, unable to remain so sickeningly helpful anymore.

'_Ugh, can't you ever be serious for more than two minutes?'_

'_**Nope. However, I **_**have**_** been seriously **_**turned on **_**by that picture for the last half hour, and I know you are too. So just relax and enjoy the view,'**_ the kyuubi coaxed its host.

'_Look, I told you already fox, __**I am not going to masturbate to Hinata**__. __**She is my friend, and I would never do that to her.**__'_

'_**Geez, you make it sound like she's here in the room.' **_**'…When she's actually outside the window,' **the demon fox mused to himself knowingly. Nothing gets past the great nine tailed fox. **'And you're really gonna hurt her if you DON'T start working your rod soon,'** Kurama once again thought to himself. _**'Besides, it's a nudie pic, what did you think it was for? What reason would someone take a picture for other than showing it to people?'**_

While the fox made perfect sense, Naruto knew better. This was not just any picture. Surely Hinata was not actually planning on going around and sharing it with all her friends and comrades. Yes, the photo was intended for someone to see, but not him. _'This isn't the kind of picture you just show off to people. She probably has a boyfriend that she meant to send this too.'_ Naruto's heart sank a bit as he said these words to his bijuu companion, though he merely contributed it to his growing guilt. _'This wasn't for me, or Kiba, or some perverted old fox.'_

'**Well, I guess two for three isn't too bad,'** the nine tails mused to himself. Though the kyuubi truly did not care about his host's love life (or at least he told himself he didn't), the fox decided to see if he could get the dense boy to clue in to his secret admirer's plight. You know, purely for his own amusement; he just liked seeing the dobe fumble around trying to figure out the obvious is all. _**'Kit, you have probably spent more time with her lately than anyone else, **_**especially**_** any boy. If she were dating someone, don't you think you would have noticed? Or that she would have at least mentioned him?'**_

Though the jinchuuriki was convinced the only person Hinata would be willing to do something so intimate for would have to be a boyfriend, the fox had a point. Naruto had never once seen Hinata with another boy doing anything to make it seem as if the two were a couple. Hinata had also opened up a lot more to Naruto as the pair became closer. The two of them had a strong mutual trust; she would share nearly anything with him, from family issues to her own hopes and dreams. However, Hinata never said she was in a relationship.

But if the pictures were not meant for her boyfriend, who else was there? _'… Maybe she wanted to send them to a boy she liked?'_

**HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT. **Did the dobe actually just get something right? Perhaps the boy was smarter than the fox gave him credit for. Still on par with a chimpanzee in his personal opinion, but one of those chimpanzees that can speak sign language at least.

'_He must be pretty thick if Hinata-chan thinks she has to pose nude to get his attention,'_ Naruto inferred, clueless to the fact that he was that thick boy.

'**Two for two! The kit's on a roll this time,' **Kurama thought, more surprised than he had been in over a hundred years. The kyuubi, along with everyone else in the village, already knew this of the jinchuuriki, although it was unexpectedly satisfying to hear the gaki admit it, albeit unintentionally. On second thought, the fact that he did not even know he was describing himself just made it better. _**'Yeah, must be a real idiot,'**_ the fox added, trying to have some more fun with his host.

'_Are you kidding me? Idiot is an understatement. Hinata is probably the most amazing girl I have ever met. She's so kind, smart, caring, fun to be with… beautiful,' the blonde said, staring at the picture of her with a deeper blush, 'and despite what anyone says, a strong ninja. I can't stand it when she tells me about how her family would call her weak, it's their fault she never had the courage to show them all her real potential. But she's different now. I know everyone says it's impossible to read a Hyuuga's eyes, but whenever Hinata is challenged, I swear she has the most determined look in her eyes I have ever seen. Any man who would turn that down must have something eating away at their brain.'_

'**And that makes it three for three. Thank Kami I stopped doing that before I did anything **_**too**_** permanent. Let's see if the kit can get a perfect four for four.' **The demon prepared himself to test the boy's deduction skills and ask him the final question. _**'Very touching speech, but now kit, I want you to listen very carefully to my words, okay?' **_the kyuubi told his container slowly and seriously. Naruto was brought to full attention by the fox's voice. The nine tailed bijuu continued in a patronizing tone, as if he were talking to a five-year-old. _**'If Hinata really wanted to attract this boy so badly, she would try to get closer to him, right? But it seems as if, aside from her girlfriends and training, she has been seeking **_**your**_** company in most of her free time. So, who do you think this crush of hers could be?' **_The demon could have easily _told_ Naruto that he was the thick-headed baka that the Hyuuga had fallen for, but he felt this was something the dobe had to figure out on his own. Plus it wouldn't be any fun if he just came out and said it. Kurama had tried to make his message as clear as possible though. All the fox could do now was silently wait for the moment of truth.

Naruto was very annoyed; he never liked being talked down to. Although the way the fox explained it made his vessel see how obvious the answer was, he didn't have to be such a dick about it. True, Hinata was definitely not the type of person to do something like this completely out of the blue. If she had liked someone, surely she would have tried talking to them or spending some time together, but she had been with him more than anyone else lately.

…

Okay, so if she **didn't** have a crush, and didn't have a boyfriend , then who would she want to take nude photos for? _'Uhh… Maybe she did some nude modeling?'_ the ever clueless jinchuuriki guessed. A longshot, yes, but what other options were there?

Kurama wanted to laugh. He **really** did. Hinata Hyuuga, the nude model. The girl who wore a bulky winter jacket every day of the year until a few months ago; the girl who fainted at the mention of **kissing**, a nude model! It truly was laughable. Unfortunately, the kyuubi could not enjoy the roaring laughter begging to escape because he was too chagrined by the fact that he was stuck inside this idiot. It was humiliating, really. The great kyuubi no kitsune, sealed inside a boy who once attempted to perform the substitution technique by chucking a log out of the tree he was hiding in. Needless to say, when the class saw the flying log, no one fell for it, and the boy gave his position away and failed the test. The great fox groaned, wondering if there were any other bijuu stuck inside such a ridiculous host.

* * *

**In Kumogakure**

"Are you sure this is safe?" Omoi worriedly asked his sensei, pointing to the paper bombs placed nearby.

"Yo, don't fear, everything'll be alright; and I need some effects to make my music video tight. Karui, you keep the camera rolling while I'm dropping my rhymes; and Omoi remember to cue the pyrotechnics on time. Bakayaro! Konoyaro!" Killer Bee said this to reassure his makeshift crew, though they still seemed quite nervous over his idea.

"Alright then," a reluctant Omoi responded, still worried as usual. _'What if Bee-sama is underestimating the number of paper bombs he's using? What if the explosion is so powerful that it kills him? Then the gyuuki would not have a host, and the village would need to find a new one. What if they select me to be the next jinchuuriki? What would happen if I had to contain the eight tails? Perhaps I would manage to tame it even better than Bee-sama, and become the most powerful shinobi in Kumo. What if I became so strong that Ay-sama named me the fifth Raikage, but I can't take the pressure and responsibility and lead the village to its doom?' _

The jinchuuriki's students did as they were told, and while Killer Bee began his newest rap, Omoi patiently waited for his cue to light the paper bombs. When he did, the explosion was in fact greater than expected, and started shaking up the mountain beside them. Soon, chunks of rock began falling down the side of it towards the group, as well as destroying some of the buildings supported by the rock structure.

Both Karui and Omoi ran from the rockslide, while Bee formed octopus tentacles from his backside which shielded him from the rocks. When the dust settled, his two students came back to find him jumping out of the rubble unharmed.

"Bee-sama, I thought you said this was safe!" an infuriated Karui screamed, looking around at the damage they had caused.

"I did say that, this I cannot deny; but I am safe, aren't I?"

"**BEEEEEEEEEEE! ! !**" the Raikage shouted as he delivered a punch to the gut that had the jinchuuriki flying halfway through the hidden village.

* * *

**Back with Naruto**

'_**Sure, kit,'**_the kyuubi drawled in his most sarcastic tone yet, _**'I bet she was probably planning on submitting those to playnin for next week's issue. Hinata Hyuuga.'**_

'_Alright, I get it, bad guess! Not like you got any better theories, so just shut it you stupid fox!'_ Naruto told the demon in frustration. Surprisingly enough, the kyuubi simply smirked and actually remained quiet.

It was not because was actually listening to his jailor; no, he would rather die than take orders from that dobe. The fox only shut up because it could sense that it could sense that it had already said enough. You see, aside from the joy he gets from it, the second reason the fox argues with his host so much is to stir up the boy's anger. Since the demon can only affect his container when he is experiencing feelings of anger and hate, the kyuubi often eggs him on like this to gain some power over him. This is how the fox often wins their arguments, or gets his points through Naruto's thick skull. While the blonde's frustration could not compare to the fury and hatred flowing through him during the instances where the nine tails has actually taken over, it was still anger. It did not give him enough control to even move the jinchuuriki's arm, but it was enough to get the boy to stop resisting his urges. Given the situation, it was an incredibly easy feat.

Though the kid may not know it yet, the fox was just helping the gaki realize what he wants. And hey, if the fox got a nice live show later, rather than just a picture or a Kami-damn PG-13 movie, then it would be worth actually being helpful for once. **'The kit will thank me for this later,'** the demon thought.

When the kyuubi stayed quiet, Naruto simply continued to stare at the picture in his hand. Suddenly, his conscience and doubts began to slowly recede, and the teen found himself increasingly drawn to the photograph. His eyes scanned the image with intensity, memorizing every detail. Naruto took in every inch of creamy, exposed flesh, every voluptuous curve. He was hypnotized by the pink buds on the two large and luscious mounds that the girl had kept hidden for so many years. His gaze wandered lower to the womanly folds between her toned thighs. Even her face seemed so enticing in this picture. It did not hold the usual compassionate gaze that he had come accustomed to. Instead, the intensity of her eyes bore into him, as if she were actually staring directly at him with that look of want and hunger.

Before Naruto knew what he was doing, his free hand had drifted towards his zipper to release his strained erection from its confines. Naruto felt the cold air hit his cock as it stood tall, now outside of his lowered pants. Finally the blonde's hand began to give it the attention it had been depraved of the entire time the teen had been staring at the picture.

* * *

**Outside Naruto's Apartment**

Hinata was beginning to worry. For a while, Naruto just sat there, staring at the photo. What confused the voyeur even more were the constant changes in emotion on the teen's face. Just what **was** he thinking about? One second he seemed angry, then he was blushing, then he seemed sad, and then angry again! Despite the throbbing contradiction in his pants, Hinata was starting to think he truly was not attracted to her.

That is, until his hand finally began venturing below his waist. Hinata forgot all conscious thoughts, and the veins by her eyes bulged even further, as if she were attempting to see through the wall without the other sight-altering effects of the byakugan. Though the view was not perfect, the Hyuuga was easily able to identify the appendage that burst out of its orange prison. Though it was still not fully erect, Naruto's length was still pretty impressive. If Hinata had to guess, she would say it was probably about seven inches right now, and she could not wait to see its full size.

The dazed girl had to bring a hand up to her face to muffle a gasp as Naruto's hand wrapped around his cock, his fingers squeezing it snugly. Hinata had fantasized about this before. You could not be born with eyes that can see through walls and **not** think about using them to spy on someone in an intimate situation such as this. But imagining it and actually seeing it for real were two completely different things. Hinata could feel the fire burning in her loins when she had first looked in on the boy on his bed, but the heat became unbearable as the man of her dreams began working his shaft.

Unconsciously, Hinata's right hand found its way to her pants too, seamlessly slipping past the navy capris and pushing past her sopping panties. Her left grasped her breast, fondling the soft mound before giving it a light squeeze. She had to stifle yet another gasp from the sensation, not new yet somehow much more intense than she was used to. This difference in feeling was observed again as Hinata began to trace the outline of her lower lips. It felt as if her body was twice as sensitive, a difference she accredited to the fact that she was watching her love pleasure himself right in front of her.

The blonde teen's strokes were slow at first, rising up and down the shaft, occasional pausing at the top to rub the ridge just beneath the head. Hinata was paying close attention to her love's technique, making mental notes and storing them away for later. It did not take long for the organ to finish hardening, reaching the full extent of its length, most likely eight or nine inches in all. When it had stopping growing under its owner's ministration, Naruto's hand wasted no time in picking up the pace.

Entranced by her love's movements, Hinata began craving more contact. Her left hand snaked under her mesh shirt until it came upon her bra. It rushed through this second layer of coverings without hesitation to pinch the heiress' pert nipple. As she squeezed and tweaked the rosy bud, the fingers of her other hand became coated in the juices leaking from her sensitive womanhood, begging for more attention.

She willingly complied to her body's demands and slipped a finger, lubricated with her own fluids, into her pussy. This sent an electric shock of pleasure up her spine, and her back arched in response. Hinata had to bite down on her bottom lip to keep from moaning out in the ecstasy she was feeling this moment. For the first time since she had ever touched herself, the horny Hyuuga was frighteningly aware of all the moans and grunts attempting to escape her lips. Hinata kept biting on her bottom lip as her finger began thrusting in and out, not wanting to be heard and found out by any stragglers walking down the streets of Konoha later than they should be.

* * *

**In a Tree Just Out of the Byakugan's Range**

Two ANBU Black Ops sat on a sturdy branch, observing the teen through a pair of binoculars. The team which were assigned to watch over the pair were smart enough to stay far enough back to remain out of the view of the Hyuuga's doujutsu, a precaution that the shinobi were correct to have taken.

The ANBU member wearing a boar mask accepted the binoculars from his teammate. "Wow, I can't believe she actual had it in her to do it. And – is that her hand in her pants?! Man, I cannot believe she is actually doing _that_ in public! I saw her a few times when the Hyuuga's requested some extra security a few years back, and I swear she used to be the shiest little girl."

Out of the corner of his eye, the disbelieving ANBU saw a cricket hop onto the branch beside the two of them. This cricket must have belonged to their third team member, who was an Aburame. The Aburame was watching Naruto at the time, but was able to spot Hinata coming early enough to distance himself sufficiently before she had activated her byakugan. He had managed to plant some insects inside the boy's apartment though, to continue to watch him and relay any new information. As soon as the cricket's presence was known to the other two ANBU, it began to chirp a message in morse code. By the time the insect had finished, the two spies were giggling endlessly. Looking back to the balcony where the kunoichi was currently pleasuring herself, the boar-masked ANBU was tempted to just hurl a kunai through the window to cut the blinds off and see the two horny teens' reactions. He refrained from acting on this temptation, only because he knew the torture he was in for if the Hokage found out he had interfered in a way that could compromise the integrity of her betting pool.

"I'm going to Hidden Horizon to report this development to Hokage-sama, she is **really** going to want to hear this. You okay watching Hinata by yourself for a while?" the ANBU questioned his partner. He looked back to the toad-masked shinobi for confirmation, and received a vigorous nod. Before he turned around to stealthily evacuate the tree, he noticed his partner had a notebook in his hands, and seemed to be writing down the current events. _'Huh, looks like he's taking notes… I should've thought of that, wouldn't want to miss any details on the mission reports.'_

As the masked shinobi leaped away towards the bar Tsunade was sure to be at, the toad-masked ANBU glanced over his shoulder. When he was sure his partner was out of eyesight, he brought his fingers under his mask and blew a low whistle. Immediately after, another ANBU member wearing a Hyena mask dropped onto the tree. The ANBU member beside him handed him the binoculars and said to him, "Soak it all in and get to work, Sai boy. You're looking at the cover of Icha Icha: Bloodline!" the excited ANBU said, as the other nodded, pulling out a scroll and a brush.

* * *

**On Naruto's Balcony**

Hinata had continued fingering herself, watching Naruto and attempting to mirror his speed and intensity. Her left hand clenched firmly on her right breast, her titplay adding to her arousal. Hinata could see from his lip movements that he was grunting out his pleasure, though not loud enough to make it through the walls. Oh how Hinata yearned to hear him, his heavy breathing, his moans, his dirty talking encouraging her to bring him to gratification herself. Though she was no expert at lip-reading, the masturbating Hyuuga could've sworn her crush had just said her name, and it only managed to excite the perverted heiress more.

Hinata, completely lost in the pleasure she was giving herself, dared to bring her thumb up to her nub. While she was still thrusting her finger through her wet folds, her thumb began to draw lazy circles around her sensitive clit, teasing herself. She soon brought it to flick the nub, and was rewarded with a tingling sensation which nearly brought the Hyuuga to her knees. If she could receive this much pleasure just from watching Naruto, how good would it feel to have him inside her?

Hinata squeezed her breast a little harder at the thought, switching between them as she sensually massaged the pair, wishing it was Naruto's hand roaming her lusting body. She was tempted, so very tempted to just walk inside the apartment and give herself to her masturbating crush then and there, but decided against it. With her bad luck streak, her breaking into the apartment would most likely end badly, and she could not risk ruining the mood for either of them. After waiting so long, she really wanted this. She **needed** this. She would not let any misunderstandings or misfortune take this away from her. Besides, her legs were barely able to support her anymore; she was not sure if they had the strength to make it inside.

Naruto seemed to be speeding up his strokes, getting rougher and rougher with himself. His balls had started bouncing with his powerful jerks, and the slit at the tip of his engorged head was leaking a clear liquid, though nowhere near as much as Hinata. Seeing his face contorting into that far-off look of pleasure made Hinata's pride swell, knowing she was the one that had caused his arousal. _'What are you thinking, Naruto kun? What would you do to me if you knew how I felt?'_ If the way one jerks off is any indication of the way they make love, it would be a safe guess Naruto would fuck her hard. As Hinata fought back the moans brought on by her busy hands, she pictured herself in the bedroom with Naruto, her legs spread wide for his hard-as-steel cock, him grabbing her hips tightly as he thrust it in, relentlessly pounding its full length into her depths, his sack slapping against her thighs as her lover's meat dug into her sensitive spot, slamming inside her one final time before his cock shot all of it's hot, sticky contents into her hungry womb…

Hinata wished she were born a Yamanaka, then she would be able to walk straight into her crush's mind and gladly take pretend-Hinata's place in his fantasies. If she had had her way, they would have already have lived out most of them by now.

To keep up with the intensity Naruto's ministrations, Hinata added a second finger to the lone spelunker. Her slit was stretched a little more, but this just increased the pleasure. It was too great, in fact, and the heiress had to reluctantly remove the hand caressing her breasts to bring it up to her mouth before she screamed in ecstasy. Fortunately, only a dampened squeal came out, and judging by the fact that Naruto showed no signs of abandoning his work he had not heard.

While her two fingers rubbed up against her inner walls, sliding in and out with ease on the slippery surface, her thumb played with her nub more aggressively, flicking and rubbing away at it. Hinata barely silenced another cry of pleasure as she felt a coil tightening in her stomach. She hated having to be so quiet. She wanted to moan, wanted to scream. She wanted her crush to hear it; she wanted him to hear her cry his name out to him, wanted him to know that he was the only man who could ever make her this wet and horny, and the only man who could ever satisfy her libido. But alas, she could not be caught in such a compromising position. Lest he know – er, _think_ she was a stalker.

Hinata was coming close to her orgasm, and she could tell Naruto was too. Both hastened their actions, reaching for their gratifying finishes. Naruto was about to cum, she could see it coming.

Literally.

With her enhanced byakugan vision, she could actually see the semen traveling out of his balls and through the vas deferens and urethra before exiting his body. It was very strange to see, yet oddly hot for the young Hyuuga. All of a sudden, Naruto's body tensed, and his eyes clamped shut as if he were straining to lift something heavy. The hand which was holding the naked image of the heiress outside his window almost reflexively darted to his balls, groping and fondling them for extra stimulation. Soon those sperm containers released their hot juices as Naruto's thick load shot out into the open air.

Hinata's reaction to this was to reach her own climax. She felt the coil in her belly suddenly snap from the pressure as her orgasm rocked through her entire being. Her body froze, then her knees all but buckled as the euphoric sensation drained her of all energy, and her hand had been soaked by her own cum, which had gushed down her lower body like a waterfall.

Her self-pleasuring session over, Hinata deemed it safe to release her left hand from her mouth and used it to lean against the outer wall of Naruto's apartment. As she panted heavily to catch her breath, she stared at Naruto, who was recuperating too. She noticed that the picture he was holding had been too close to his dick when he came, and some of the jizz had oozed its way onto the photo. Hinata smiled. She liked the image of herself covered in her love's semen, even if the amount on the image of the teen was proportionately, unrealistically massive. Oh well, a girl can dream.

"H-Hinata-sama?"

Hinata did not need her byakugan vision to know who was standing behind her, though it did save her the need to turn her head around to confirm. Her eyes bulged in shock of being caught. Sometime during her blissful release, she had been too distracted to notice her cousin touch down behind her on the balcony.

'_How did uncle know Hinata would be right here? And was she just doing what I think she was?!'_

Neji was able to figure out the answer to his second question was most likely yes, as he could see Hinata's active byakugan as she spun around on the spot.

"Kyaaaaa!" However, before her cousin could say another word, the Hyuuga heiress panicked, and with her byakugan already active she reflexively unleashed a flurry of jyuuken strikes at the unwanted witness to her peeping. Neji was caught completely off-guard, and fell to his knees with a loud thud after having several of his tenketsu painfully closed. With the adrenaline from her sudden fright rejuvenating her energy, Hinata quickly fled the scene, jumping through town towards the Hyuuga compound, hoping to change her pants before anyone else noticed the big wet spot on them.

Neji, still incredibly surprised by what he had just seen, activated his kekkei genkai and pumped chakra through his hand to begin reopening his chakra points. However, he was so preoccupied with the operation that he did not notice the boy on the other side of the wall zipping up his pants and grabbing a kunai, nor the thumping sounds of his rushed footsteps towards his window. What he did notice was when the blonde threw the blinds aside and opened his balcony window before shouting out, "Who the hell is – Neji?! What are you doing here?"

Naruto gave the Hyuuga before him a puzzled stare. He could not figure out what Neji would be doing on his balcony this late at night, or why he was using his doujutsu… "Wait! Were you just spying on me?!" Naruto accused, feeling extremely violated thinking the jonin might have just been watching him… having his _private_ time.

"What? No! I was just –" Neji began defending himself, trying to think of a way to explain himself without embarrassing Hinata and bringing shame to the Hyuuga name, until he caught sight of the object in Naruto's other hand. "What is that in your hand?"

When Neji reverted back to his stoic monotone, a chill went up Naruto's spine and he could feel a wave off killing intent radiating off the older boy. The blonde looked to the hand which was not holding his kunai, and that is when he realized he was still holding a, now very sticky, photo of a naked Hinata.

He looked back to an enraged Neji and completely forgot their previous situation. Naruto made a break for it to the front door of his house, planning to run as far away as possible. Neji, whose brotherly instincts were kicking in, chased the offending Uzumaki in hot pursuit after having remedied the last of his closed tenketsu. If he got his hands on the boy, he would give him double the treatment he had just received from Hinata.

* * *

**A/N: Hope I didn't disappoint with the lime, I tried my best. I was pretty much just going off of what I learned about erotic writing from other fanfiction and my overactive imagination. Please let me know how I can improve my sex writing in the future in the reviews! **

**Hope u guys got some laughs too, although I put some more emotion than usual into this chapter. The wheels are finally getting rollin, the plot is beginning to advance. I'm sure this is making most of you VERY happy. The chapter had Kurama, Killer Bee, Neji, Jiraiya & Sai, another movie reference, and masturbation. What more could you want?**

**Also, just in case a few of you are confused, these last two chapters took place during the same day as the omake. That's why I said it would tie into this (these) chapter(s), which is why Hiashi went to the bar, the boar-masked ANBU went to report Hinata peeping with her byakugan to the Hidden Horizon, and why Hiashi sent Neji to get Hinata like he said in the omake.**

**FOLLOW/FAVE/REVIEW/MASTURBATE!**


	10. Chapter 8: The Waiting Game

**A/N: Yo! Sorry for the wait again, I just got really distracted, but I finally got around to it and finished the chapter as fast as I could! I am so sorry, please forgive me, I do not wish to provoke the wrath… er, **_**disappointment **_**of MistaBiggles! Hopefully this chapter is good enough to make up for the wait, I left you devoted readers a little 'gift' in the intro, hope you like. ;) Also, one comment I feel the need to answer, for anyone who feels the same:**

**SilentSambo88:**** Yes, THAT trope. I happen to like THAT trope; if there's not at least one angry Hyuuga then it's not much of a NaruHina fic in my opinion, and Hiashi has already been made not eligible for that role. NO, Neji does NOT have any deeper feelings for Hinata. NO. JUST. NO. Regarding the reason for his anger, #1: he feels practically like a brother to Hinata, and is sometimes overprotective of her. So, he was driven by his overprotective brotherly instincts, and his traditional, prudish Hyuuga upbringing does not help with matters regarding threats to the heiress'/his cousin/sister's purity. #2: Remember, he has NO IDEA HOW Naruto got that picture. For all he knows, he could have been hiding outside her window with a camera. I believe THAT would DEFINITELY warrant a beating. #3: There is also a third reason why Neji would be a bit more testy than usual, and you will find out in the next chapt.**

**As far as who can beat who, this is how I see it: in animes, I think that the characters usually hold back their full power in casual situations. Because of this, the pissed off dude pretty much always wins. (How else can you explain how SAKURA, EARLY-ORIGINAL-SERIES USELESS SAKURA, could knock Naruto out cold with ease when he pissed her off?) And think about it: if Naruto actually fought back, it would probably just make things worse. While I believe Naruto would win, Neji is still the Hyuuga-prodigy and first jonin of their group, a very strong opponent, so it would be pretty close. At full strength, the two would probably end up causing a huge scene, lots of collateral damage (his wind-rasenshuriken, the fruits of his elemental training, would probably wipe out a good couple of blocks of the village, not to mention KILL Neji), seriously injuring each other, and wind up in the hospital with possibly some legal consequences. Basically, Naruto can a) Go through all of that, b) Take a little beating like a man, or c) Run. He chose c). This is why, outside of real battles, the angry dude always wins. (Unless the other guy is faster!)**

**Sorry for the long explanation, but I wanted to make my viewpoint on the issue clear. ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: Kishi owns!**

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Kyuubi Thoughts'**_**/"Kyuubi Speech in Mindscape"**

* * *

Later that night Hinata was lying on her bed, thinking of all that had just happened. What she had seen, what she had done, and what may come of it. She just prayed Neji would not tell her father of her public act of self-degradation. There was no telling how he would punish her for staining the _Hyuuga pride_ in such an embarrassing way. Despite Hinata's fear of her possible reprimanding, it had been completely worth it.

The only thoughts that outweighed Hinata's worries were the images of Naruto flashing through her mind. The thoughts would not leave her alone, persistently invading her consciousness. What would have happened if she had had the guts to open that window and join him in the apartment? What would he think of her? Was he thinking of her right now? How long would Ino's plan take to cause him to abandon the picture and move on to the real deal – the real **her**?

With all these thoughts and the image of what Hinata imagined her crush's naked form looked like in person swirling around in her mind, sleep eluded the heiress. Soon, she felt the all-too-familiar warmth she had experienced only hours ago outside the blonde's apartment. It was then that Hinata realised that there was only one way she was going to get any rest that night.

A dainty hand slowly made its way down the lavender-eyed kunoichi's body, skimming along the surface of her nightgown as it slid down her neck, chest, and stomach. Hinata kept her eyes closed, imagining her crush lying atop her in nothing but his birthday suit, trailing soft kisses down her body where her hand was. When the appendage reached her waistline, Hinata plunged into her panties without pause, seeking the relief that would allow her to drift peacefully to sleep.

The restless Hyuuga brought her index finger to her soft, pink pussy lips and dove in. Her breaths became heavy as she pulled the finger back out, and began repeating the cycle at a medium pace. Hinata felt her pleasure building up with every thrust. She arched her back as soft mewls and moans disrupted the silence of her room. The heiress felt her finger being coated in a layer of her own juices, which made it slip in and out with greater ease. Now lubricated in her sweet nectar, she slipped a second finger in and increased her speed. Her other hand clutched to the bed sheets in a death grip as her stomach muscles tightened in response.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata called out to no one, her voice gentle and longing. She imagined his toned, muscular body looming over her as he thrust back and forth, calling her name in response. Sweat droplets were forming on her body. The combined forces of her ministrations and imagination were causing her body to continue to heat up until it was unbearable. She unclenched her idle hand and swiftly tossed her blanket off of her overheated body.

All the while, her fingers continued their routine, jerking throughout her wetness, paying extra attention to the sweet spots she knew would bring her to climax. She called out the name of the man in her fantasies again, only louder. "Naruto-kun," she beckoned, as if attempting to will him to appear before her. Her moans echoed off the walls of her room, a lust-filled plea for the jinchuuriki's presence.

Amidst her euphoric breaths, Hinata heard a light pitter-patter to her left. She whipped her head in the direction of the unknown sound and froze. There was someone outside her window. The horny Hyuuga immediately withdrew her hand from her womanhood and clutched her bedsheets to her chest in a panicked effort to conceal herself.

"W-who's there?" she called out into the darkness on the other side of the window. A stare of shock and fear was etched onto her face. She was about to use her byakugan to identify the intruder when they suddenly revealed themself.

As if responding to her question, Hinata saw a hand move to open the conveniently unlocked window. The heiress was about to get into a battle stance to prepare to defend herself until she saw a leg coming through the opening. When she saw it, her legs gave out and she fell on her ass back onto her bed. All of her worry vanished; if anything she felt even safer than she did before. However, her shock just increased and her eyes widened

It was not so much the leg itself that had surprised Hinata, but what was worn on that leg. The person whom she had caught outside her window was wearing a pair of bright orange pants. _'Orange? But the only person who wears that colour is –'_

The shocked girl's mind stopped as the rest of the shadowy figure came into view. It was none other than Naruto Uzumaki.

"Naruto-kun! W-what are you d-doing here?" Hinata was compelled to ask by her curiosity. Naruto's reaction was one she did not expect. Before answering, his lips stretched into a grin. Not his usual goofy, happy grin though. This one was different, more intense, almost teasing. It sent pleasant shivers up her spine.

"Well, I heard you call my name," he replied in a calm, husky voice that excited Hinata to no end. She should have been embarrassed that he had heard her, had **seen** her while she was masturbating, but instead her body quivered in anticipation. "I wanted to thank you for the pictures you gave me, but you left before I could invite you in," Naruto continued, slowly closing the distance between the two. Hinata could not believe what she was hearing. _'He knew?'_ Hinata loosened her grip on her bedsheets as her crush approached, causing them to fall and reveal her barely-clothed form. Naruto's grin grew slightly at this, and both teens found their eyes locked onto each other's.

Hinata's heart beat faster with every step the blonde took. The only thought she was capable of thinking was _'Is this really happening?' _Neither could break eye contact the entire time, as if trapped in the other's gaze. Time froze for Hinata as Naruto stopped right in front of her. He bent down until their eyes were level, and cerulean bored into lavender. A warm hand suddenly came up and cupped Hinata's cheek ever so gently, caressing it. "Thank you, my hime. I love you."

Hinata's heart stopped. The confession was almost too much for her, and she could not help but love the new pet name her love had given her. By all rights, as heiress to the noblest clan in the village, she was the closest thing to a princess there was in Konoha, though this was the first time she had actually felt like one.

Knowing the girl in front of him would not be able to respond anytime soon, Naruto proceeded to close the last few inches between their faces and take her lips with his own. After realizing what was happening, the blue-haired kunoichi regained control of her body with a start. She responded to the kiss, hot and passionate, and wrapped her arms around her long-time love's neck. Naruto deepened the kiss further too by grabbing hold of her waist and pulling her closer, their bodies conforming to the contours of the other.

Every part of Hinata in contact with the boy's strong body was immediately set on fire, and Hinata began running her hands through the Uzumaki's spiky golden locks. Naruto began licking her lower lip, and Hinata let him enter her mouth without a second thought.

As their tongues battled for dominance, Hinata was slowly pushed onto her back, with her love pressed on top of her.

Hinata was about to protest when she felt Naruto's body separating from her own, that is, until she felt one of his hands move from her waist to her chest. She moaned into the kiss, and her tingling chest pushed further into the boy's calloused hand, seeking more contact.

Surprisingly Hinata was the first to break the kiss. The boy on top of her gave her a confused and disappointed look, until Hinata began to speak. "Naruto-kun, please…" Her voice was dripping desire and need, and her eyes were glazed over with lust. Not another word needed to be said; Naruto knew exactly what she wanted. Donning what Hinata could only describe as his 'panty-creaming sexy grin' again, he began to lift her nightgown over her head, and tossed it to the ground as if it were on fire. He reached his arms around her back, bringing their bodies closer once more. While his hot breaths beat against her neck, she could feel him fumbling with her bra clasp. Before long, his hands came back to her front, and they grabbed hold of the garment and rid her of it too.

For a few seconds, his eyes gorged on the spoils of his hands' labour. Hinata lied there below him as if being naked in front of him were the most natural thing in the world. She silently waited, pleading for him to touch her, craving her first sexual contact with her love without any clothes in between them.

Naruto did not disappoint, and soon his face drew towards the bare mounds, giving the rosy nub on her left breast a tentative flick of his tongue. Hinata gasped at the sensation it gave her, and threw her head back. Naruto brought his hands up and began to massage her awaiting chest, while his mouth enveloped the top of her left tit, suckling and nipping the plush skin before switching to the next.

Hinata was in paradise. Her voice betrayed her pleasure, releasing moan after moan while her lover greedily devoured her chest. Naruto was excited further by the sounds of enjoyment coming from the heiress below him. Soon, it became too much for him to handle; he could no longer restrain himself.

Naruto rose into a sitting position, straddling Hinata's hips. She let out a disappointed whine from the loss of contact. Hinata tried to raise her head to see what was wrong, but an arm on her shoulder held her down. "Time to eat your breakfast, Hinata," Naruto said to her, his free hand unzipping his pants. The perverted kunoichi had read enough Icha Icha to know what was coming next. The sound of Naruto dirty-talking to her increased the burning between her legs tenfold, but that could wait. Though Hinata did not think she had been awake **that** long, it did not matter. This was a meal she'd be happy to have for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. As Naruto's pants came off, the arm on her shoulder began shaking her lightly. "Come on nee-chan, time to eat." Hinata's mind was in such a state of bliss and anticipation she did not even wonder why Naruto had called her nee-chan, though she had greatly preferred the nickname hime. Naruto crept up her body, until his crotch was straight in front of her face. He brought his hands to the boxers which were restraining his bulging erection and slipped them off. His cock sprung out and slapped against Hinata's cheek with surprising force. The girl did not hesitate to turn her head slightly, close her eyes and take the throbbing meat into her mouth. While she did so, Naruto said to her, in an increasingly feminine voice, "Hurry up, nee-chan! Otou-san is gonna be angry if you're late for breakfast!"

Now Hinata's confusion was beginning to surmount her lust. _'There he goes, calling me nee-chan again. And is he talking about __**my**__ father? Why would he bring __**him**__ up? Somethings not right here…'_ A strange sense of awareness began to wash over Hinata.

* * *

Hinata opened her eyes to see what was happening, but had to quickly shut them again as she was blinded by the brightness of the room. As she adjusted to the sudden change, the room came back into focus. Standing beside her was her younger sister, Hanabi, whose hand was currently halfway in her mouth.

Hinata realised what she was doing, and spat her sister's hand out hurriedly. "S-sorry about that," Hinata apologized groggily, a bit embarrassed about what she had been doing to her sister while she was dreaming. She let out a mental sigh at this thought. _'Just another dream.'_ With what she had witnessed the previous night, such a thing was to be expected to happen, but Hinata wished it could have been real this time. _'Soon,'_ she reassured herself, reminding herself of Ino's plan.

Hanabi smirked teasingly at Hinata's lightly flushed face. "What's wrong; does my hand not taste as good as _Naruto-kun's?_" Hanabi teased.

"What? W-why would you say that?" Hinata stammered out, playing clueless, though her blush betrayed her.

The younger main branch member giggled at her sister's denial. "Because you talk in your sleep you know," Hanabi said as she turned around. "Just hurry up and get down for breakfast, you know otou-san does not like it when you sleep in." With that reminder, she left an embarrassed Hinata alone in her room.

'_Well, at least she doesn't know I was not dreaming of Naruto's _**hand**_,'_ Hinata thought to herself, relieved by her sister's ignorance.

* * *

After getting dressed, Hinata sat down to a rather awkward breakfast in the Hyuuga main branch household. Thankfully Neji, who had moved into the main branch house shortly after their first chuunin exams, had not said a word about her little _mishap_ the night before. He was obviously a bit embarrassed about the incident though, as he had not been able to hold eye contact with her throughout the meal. Or perhaps he had just taken a hit to his pride after being caught off guard and taken down so easily by her. Serves him right for interrupting her Naruto time!

Awkwardness aside, Hinata's morning had started out fairly normal. Get up, shower, eat, and meet her team for training. It was not until lunch that the day took an unusual turn. Hinata had picked up her usual order of ramen and brought it to Naruto's training ground. Except when she arrived, Naruto was once again gone. According to Kakashi, he had left to get lunch early.

This came as a disappointment to the heiress, as she always looked forward to her lunches with Naruto. Especially today, as she wanted to see if her friend's scheme had paid off. Hinata figured that the next step in his wind-chakra training must have just been really tough, and the blonde wanted to take a break. But then a realization hit her: if he had gone out to get lunch, then how come she had not run into him at Ichiraku's?

This had alarm bells going off in the Hyuuga's mind. Something was up. If Naruto had deliberately eaten anywhere but Ichiraku's, he must have had a reason. After all, it was the only ramen stand in Konoha, and ramen was the only food Naruto would voluntarily eat if he had the option. Breakfast: ramen. Lunch: ramen. Dinner: ramen. Dessert: ramen. Thanksgiving: turkey ramen. Movies: bag of popcorn with a hidden cup of ramen inside… You get the point.

Hinata was becoming concerned. Her crush had left the training field before the time she always arrived, and had not gone to the only place she would know where to look for him. Hyuuga's were not dumb, and Hinata was no exception. Putting two and two together, it seemed an awful lot as if Naruto was avoiding her.

The heiress offered Kakashi her extra bowl of ramen, as she knew she could not eat them both by herself. He accepted, and the lavender-eyed kunoichi bid her farewells and left in search of her friends. Hopefully Ino could offer some insight on this issue.

* * *

Finding Ino and Tenten had not been hard. Both were surprised to find Hinata wandering the village rather than sitting down to lunch with Naruto. Neither questioned it though, as they were both too curious as to whether or not she had followed through with Ino's plan.

The three sat at their regular café. Hinata had already eaten her bowl of ramen for lunch, so she just ordered tea and a cinnamon roll, her favourite sweet.

"So, did you make the switch?" Ino queried, both her and Tenten looking to Hinata expectantly.

"Yes, I did."

"Eeeeee! I knew you could do it!" Ino squealed and clapped her hands, "Trust me, this'll work! There's no way even **Naruto** could ignore you after he gets a good look inside that equipment pouch! I wonder if he's already seen the pictures?"

"He has," Hinata responded unexpectedly. Tenten looked skeptical, while Ino just became more excited. The ponytailed kunoichi was practically jumping in her seat with giddiness.

"How do you know for sure?" the bun-haired girl asked. She did not want to seem like she was trying to ruin her friend's optimism, but at the same time did not want her getting her hopes up based completely on assumptions.

Before Hinata could assure Tenten that she was sure, Ino cut in. "Don't talk to Hinata like that! Don't you trust her?" Ino chided the doubtful brunette. She turned back to the girl in question with a glint in her eyes that said she wanted details. "I knew I was good, but I didn't know I was **that** good! I mean, it hasn't even been a whole day and you already have him eating out of your hand, don't you? Soooo, what did he do? Did he ask you out? Did he tell you he likes you? Maybe even… **loves **you? Were the pictures too much for him to handle, so he came to you to satisfy his urges? Oooooooo, did he just show up at your doorstep, tell you he couldn't wait any longer to have you, carry you up to your room and ravish you right then and there?" Ino only stopped ranting to take a breath. Hinata found it eerie how alike their thoughts were. Perhaps she had been spending too much time with the mind-walker.

Hinata made sure to respond before the winded ninja could catch her breath and continue bombarding her with possibilities. "Actually, he came by the Hyuuga compound last night to return my pouch."

"**Nani?!**" Ino shouted before Hinata could fully explain what she discovered afterwards. "Well, you know what they say: all the good ones are either taken or gay. I'm sorry it took this long for you to figure out why the knucklehead was never interested in you. To be honest, I never would have guessed either. Then again, that **would** explain all the _tension_ between him and Sasuke…"

"Naruto-kun is **not** gay!" Hinata snapped. It was not that she had anything wrong with homosexuals, but she could not stand people saying such things about her crush when they most definitely were not true.

"No offense Hinata, but I gotta agree with Ino on this one. There's no other explanation. No straight man could possibly just throw away pics of a hot, naked girl! I'd kill for your body; there's **no way** he would be able to resist otherwise. Hell, if I didn't already have myself a sexy Hyuuga, I wouldn't mind seeing those pictures myself," Tenten finished with a wink. This declaration made Hinata a bit nervous. While her friends were questioning her crush's sexuality, she was beginning to question that of her friend.

"A-actually," Hinata piped in, "he did keep one of the pictures." This got both of her friends' attention. Both looked a bit confused by Hinata's contrasting statement, so the Hyuuga clarified. "When I went through the pouch, there was a photo missing."

The ever skeptical Tenten remained unconvinced. "How do you know it didn't just fall out?"

"I… I j-just know, ok?" Hinata stammered, trying to avoid having to retell the events that occurred outside Naruto's apartment. Tenten's expression did not change, however Ino grew a scheming smirk. As a Hyuuga, Hinata was an expert at detecting lies, though the heiress was not quite as good at telling them. The Yamanaka kunoichi could tell there was something she was not telling them, and she would find out. After all, she had her methods…

"I'm sorry Hinata, but I gotta agree with Tenten here," Ino said with a faked shrug, "the picture probably just fell out. After all, why would he want to see **you** naked. The only one he's probably ever imagined sans-clothes is that big-browed teammate of his." Ino could see Hinata's brows furrowing in frustration, and she found it hard to keep her smirk from resurfacing. _'Works every time. Hinata is way too easy to trick.' _"I mean, if Naruto had found a bunch of revealing pictures of **Sakura**, I'm sure he'd probably just lock himself in his room til he ran out of food."

"For your information, Ino," Hinata spat out, falling into the blonde's trap, "Sakura was the furthest thing from Naruto-kun's mind last night when he was painting that picture of me white with his cum!"

Tenten blinked her eyes, startled by what she had just heard her shy friend nearly shout out. Ino, on the other hand, merely smirked triumphantly yet again. Hinata, realizing what she had just said, quickly covered her mouth with her hand and let out a frightened "meep!"

"Oh really now?" Ino teased, "And just how, pray tell, would you know what Naruto was doing with your picture last night? Hmm?"

The embarrassed voyeur merely stammered and fumbled around for an excuse, but could not find one.

"Byakugan?" Ino asked confidently. The Hyuuga merely looked down in shame and gave a weak nod in response. In the blink of an eye, Ino and Tenten were surrounding the poor girl, wearing malicious grins and begging for details. "Come on! You can't just leave us hanging like that!"

"Yeah! You gotta tell us more than that!"

"Come on! I helped you out, you owe me! We're just curious. At least tell us how big he is!"

"T-that is private!" Hinata said, attempting to ward off the gossip-vultures circling her.

"Funny, I'm sure Naruto could say the same," Ino teased, causing Hinata's face to turn a shade of red.

Getting tired of the lavender-eyed teen's lack of cooperation, Ino prepared to play her trump card. "Fine, we tried to do this the easy way," she warned Hinata with a sigh.

"You wouldn't," Hinata challenged, praying her friend was just bluffing.

Ino merely began raising her hands until they were eye-level.

"You can't!" the heiress panicked.

Ino formed a circle with her thumb and index and middle fingers.

"P-please don't, Ino!" Hinata pleaded.

"Mind," the Yamanaka dragged out slowly and threateningly calling upon her clan's jutsu.

"B-but we are f-friends! D-don't do this to me!"

"Transfer"

"L-let's talk about this! We c-can work out a c-compromise!" Hinata begged in fear.

"Ju-" Hinata cracked. With the speed of the Raikage on crack, Hinata spilled every detail she could recount from her little peepshow.

"**Okay! He's about eight and a half inches long, 5 inches in circumference, has a very slight curve to the left, is uncircumsized, not too veiny, he is a natural blonde, and he makes this cute face when he finishes where he closes his eyes and looks almost like he's sneezing!" **Hinata had her eyes clenched shut and her arms covering her head throughout the entire confession, as if trying to physically keep the Yamanaka out of her mind.

When the heiress noticed that she still had control of her body she lowered her arms carefully and peeked her eyes open. Both of her friends were staring slack-jawed, and even Ino had a light blush. Hinata quickly mirrored it, afraid she may have gone into a little bit _too_ _much_detail in her panicked state.

Ino was the first to snap out of it, coughing awkwardly into her hand to break the silence. "So… Have you seen him yet since his little 'show'?" the blonde asked, and like that Ino and Tenten were back to their lively, bubbly selves.

Hinata, on the other hand, became serious in reaction to the question. "Actually, that is what I wanted to talk to you about," Hinata informed the self-proclaimed relationship expert in front of her, "I think Naruto-kun might be avoiding me." The look in her byakugan eyes conveyed her worry over the matter. "Is that a bad sign? Did I do something wrong? Does this mean he does not like me? What do I do now?"

Ino merely shrugged off Hinata's worries, seemingly unconcerned. Her reaction helped comfort Hinata. "Don't worry about it; Naruto's probably just feeling a bit confused right now. Give him some space to sort out his feelings for a few days; unless he's a complete baka he should be coming to you soon enough."

"It sounds like he was already _coming to her_ plenty last night," Tenten added with a sly wink, summoning a darker blush on the Hyuuga heiress' cheeks.

As Tenten and Ino continued giggling and teasing their embarrassed friend, the last of Hinata's worries were diffused by their certainty. Gathering the faith and confidence she would need to keep herself from breaking down while her love sorted out his feelings, she relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with her friends.

* * *

The three kunoichi were at the café longer than they had intended, chatting and gossiping the afternoon away. By the time they had realized what time it was, Hinata ran off, claiming she had some 'Hyuuga clan matters' to attend to. This left only Ino and Tenten, who paid their bills and left the restaurant.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Tenten asked her friend casually as they walked.

A grin appeared on Ino's lips. "Now, we are going to find Naruto and get some info on his feelings for Hinata."

The weapon mistress was confused by this statement. "I thought you said we should give him some space?" Tenten questioned.

"No, I said **she** should give him some space. I, on the other hand, am dying to know just how well my plan is going." The ponytailed girl hummed merrily, pleased with herself for coming up with such a genius idea. _'So far, the plan sounds like it's working. Still, I want to hear it from Naruto.'_

"But how are we going to find out how he feels about Hinata without making him suspicious of something?" Tenten voiced her only concern.

Ino's smirk of superiority made its return. "Just leave it to me. After all, I **am** a Yamanaka. Our clan put the interrogation in the torture and interrogation department. Before we joined the village, all they had was a torture department."

* * *

**At the Konoha T.I. Department**

Wails and cries of pain and horror bounced off the walls of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Department. The source of these haunting noises was holding cell number twelve. More specifically, the poor soul that had recently been captured on a recent recovery mission, and was currently being shown what the 'T' in 'T.I. Dept.' stood for by none other than Ibiki Morino.

The prisoner had his limbs strapped to his chair, and his clothes were tattered and stained with his own blood. He did not know how long he had been in this room. If he had to guess, he'd say it had been about an eternity – maybe two.

While the man panted and cried out in terror of what was to come, Ibiki walked along the wall on the far end of the room. Neatly laid out on a table in front of him was a wide assortment of weapons, tools, and ungodly devices even their creators would not recognize.

"I'll ask you again," Ibiki said in a cold, emotionless voice. The prisoner cried harder; he knew what was coming. The man's body was still aching and burning from the last time his _interrogator_ had asked him this question. "Where did you hide the scroll?"

"**I DON'T KNOW!**" the prisoner cried in agony, praying that the merciless sadist in front of him would believe him his time.

Ibiki merely smirked. Nothing pleased him more than hearing the results of his art; it was like the satisfaction of a job well done.

Within seconds, the room was filled with the prisoner's desperate cries for freedom. His voice boomed through the walls, already instilling fear into the other awaiting prisoners in the building. It was a miracle that the man had not snapped the last of his vocal cords with the sheer force behind his screams.

When Ibiki felt he had given the man enough _incentive_ to answer, he ceased his actions and repeated the question. "I'll ask you again," Ibiki stated in the same unfeeling tone. "Where did you hide the scroll?"

The man could not take the torture any more. Time after time, his captor would ask him the exact same question, with the exact same wording and exact same tone, and then the excruciating pain would follow his answer. It felt as if the cycle was an infinite loop; a never-ending hell he would have to endure until his body gave out. Then he broke.

"**OKAY! WE HANDED IT OFF TO THE ISHIDA CLAN IN SUNA FOR SAFEKEEPING!**" Though the man was very big and semmingly tough, he was reduced to a trembling heap of tears, broken by Ibiki's treatment.

Ibiki was not pleased by this answer either. "Fool! We have already confirmed that the Ishida were not involved in this! Tell me the truth!"

The prisoner snapped his eyes shut as the man in the trench coat approached him with another one of his tools, wishing that this one would just end his life.

But the pain that he was becoming accustomed to since meeting the devil in the room with him never came. He opened his eyes to see a second man holding Ibiki's hand down. His saviour had jade-green eyes, and his long blonde hair was held back in a ponytail.

"What are you doing, Inoichi?" Ibiki asked, sounding irritated.

"I've come to interrogate the prisoner myself," Inoichi answered calmly.

"There is no need, I am already in the middle of my own interrogation."

"Which has been yielding no results," the Yamanaka pointed out. Ibiki scowled at Inoichi.

"Fine. He's all yours," the pissed-off torture master said, resigning himself to leaning against the corner of the room with his arms crossed.

Inoichi approached the relieved man and placed his hand onto his forehead, performing his family's jutsu and entering the prisoner's mind.

After a couple of minutes, the blonde had returned to consciousness and turned to Ibiki. "This man is a low-level hired thug. He knows nothing. Why on earth were you still questioning him?" Inoichi asked, baffled that the head of the department had not been able to find this out after two hours with the prisoner.

Ibiki let out a low, bone-chilling chuckle as he approached the table covered in his _toys_. "I had a hunch he was lying, but I guess I was wrong," the man said casually, pulling out a scroll to seal the devices in. As the Yamanaka left the room, Ibiki said one final thing. "Oh, and Inoichi, if it isn't too much trouble, could you let the prisoner in cell five know that the man from the loud room is coming to question him?" Ibiki asked with a grin that could make Orochimaru piss his pants.

* * *

**Back With Ino and Tenten**

"Besides relationships, gathering information is my speciality," Ino finished, displaying her confidence in her abilities.

And with that, the two continued through the town in search of an elusive knucklehead.

* * *

**A/N: Did you enjoy? I'm not sure if I just made a lot of people happy with me or angry at me with that intro… LET ME KNOW IN THE REVIEWS! I just had trouble thinking of how to start off the chapter, and the whole dream teaser just popped into mind. Hope you guys don't hate me for being misleading again! It's what this fic is all about! I actually had to shove most of the planned chapter content into the next one because that lime intro took up so much space! Hope you enjoyed what I ended up actually putting in this one! It nearly had dream-sex, an ignorant Hanabi, a meddling Ino and Tenten, Ibiki, and TMI from Hinata!**

**FAVE/FOLLOW/REVIEW/WAKE UP AND EAT BREAKFAST!**


	11. Chapter 9: Illiterate Mind-Reading

**A/N: Yo, new chapter here! So sorry it took so long, I honestly don't have an excuse, I just got distracted. I apologize deeply for that. I can't promise it won't happen again though, as I will be starting my first year at University this September, so I might be not be able to upload at the pace I was maintaining before, but I'll try. Anyway, I hope you at least enjoy the chapter!**

**Also, a note to any artists following this story: I've been thinking recently about finally giving this story a cover picture. I just don't really feel like just ripping off some random picture I find online for it though. If any of you have/would like to make a good picture that would be fitting for the series, I would be glad to see it! Just message me, or send me a link, or whatever! Thnx!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Don't believe me? Ask any other Naruto fanfiction writer, they'll tell you who Naruto belongs to.**

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Kyuubi Thoughts'**_**/"Kyuubi Speech in Mindscape"**

* * *

In a barbeque restaurant in Konohagakure no sato, two meddling kunoichi sat together, each equally befuddled by the abnormality across from them. Glancing above her menu at the table across from her, Tenten commented on the mysterious happening. "I didn't even know Yakiniku Barbeque served ramen."

The kunoichi continued watching Konoha's knuckleheaded ninja eating across from them. Both were still dumbfounded to find that the ramen addict was actually eating someplace other than his beloved Ichiraku's.

"Me either," Ino agreed. "Strange recipe though. It doesn't look like there are any noodles in that pork ramen…"

"Or broth…" Tenten added. While the pair failed to wrap their heads around the concept of Naruto eating anything other than ramen, they remembered the reason why they had tracked the blonde down.

Shaking their heads clear of their disbelief, Tenten turned back to Ino. "So, how do you plan on getting the info from Naruto without him getting suspicious?"

"Simple; I'm going to handle this Yamanaka style." Ino crossed her arms and donned a self-confident smirk.

"So you're going to use your Mind Transfer jutsu?"

The blonde Yamanaka immediately pouted indignantly at her friend's question. She turned her head to the side, appearing to be quite offended. "Really, Tenten? Is that all I am to you? A one-trick pony? For your information, the Yamanaka's have a vast arsenal of powerful clan techniques with plenty of useful applications, not just the Mind Transfer jutsu."

Tenten released an exasperated sigh. "Ok, calm down," she said placatingly, "So just what _powerful, applicable clan technique_ are you going to use?"

"First of all, stop mocking me. Second of all, it's a technique I have been working on recently and I've been dying to try it out. It was designed to intercept the jutsu of other clans with techniques similar to the Yamanaka's or telepathic communications, but considering the fact that a shadow clone's memories are passed to the original after its destruction, I should be able to intercept their thoughts too. So all I have to do is challenge Naruto to a spar, pop a couple of his shadow clones, go through their thoughts, and I'll know exactly how the dobe feels for Hinata!"

Rather than sharing her friend's enthusiasm, the weapon mistress seemed rather unimpressed. "I dunno, that just sounds like a lot more work. Why can't you just hit him with your mind transfer right now?"

"Because!" Ino retorted, wagging a disapproving finger in Tenten's face, " If I just possess him here and now, there's a chance he could realize I was in his mind, and the last thing we want is him thinking something is up. With my other technique, there's no way he could ever catch on!"

Tenten knew she would never be able to win this argument. Ino was as stubborn as Naruto was dense. So, in the end, she just conceded and went along with the mind-walker's plan, despite it seeming more complicated and time-consuming.

* * *

Before too long, the two blonde ninjas found themselves standing face-to-face in one of the many training grounds of the village. Naruto, not being one to back down from a challenge, accepted the sparring request as eagerly as expected. However Tenten, who was well aware of the inhuman stamina of the orange-clad shinobi, opted to wait for Ino in the next training field over rather than tire herself out unnecessarily.

After a few warm-up stretches, the two quickly got to it. The ever impatient Uzumaki was the first to go on the offensive, ambushing Ino with a barrage of punches. Though it was close, the Yamanaka managed to dodge most of the attacks, and after blocking the final fist, countered with a string of attacks of her own.

The spar continued in this manner for some time, each switching between attacking and defending, neither receiving any serious blows. Unfortunately, Naruto had yet to summon any of his shadow clones. Ino had to change this.

The ponytailed blonde proceeded to pull out all the stops. She reached into her weapon pouch and began to overwhelm her opponent with a flurry of kunai. Naruto matched her efforts by utilizing his own weapons. Ino refused to let up though, fighting with furious aggressiveness in an attempt to push the whiskered ninja to the edge.

Before now, Ino had never realized just how strong Naruto was. She had him on the defensive, but it was taking everything she had to keep it that way. Fortunately, her efforts paid off before she ran out of energy, as Naruto had backed away to summon a group of his shadow clones.

Ino smirked when she saw her five new opponents. _'Perfect. Time for the plan,'_ Ino thought to herself. She focusing her chakra to prepare for the technique she was about to use. Without hesitation she darted to the nearest shadow clone and sent it a flying kick. Ino prepared to intercept the thoughts of the dispersed chakra body when her foot connected, except…

It didn't. Rather than being greeted with the telltale 'poof' and cloud of smoke of a defeated shadow clone, her foot met nothing but thin air. Ino sailed straight through the clone, landing flat on her ass a few feet away.

"Eh? Wh… What the hell just happened?" a clueless Ino asked herself. Naruto could not handle the sight of the wide-eyed, confused Yamanaka falling straight to the ground, and broke into a fit of laughter, along with all his clones.

Ino, ignoring the embarrassment of being humiliated by the laughing Narutos, could only think of one explanation for her predicament. _'Wait, is this… The clone technique? But Naruto can't make regular clones! When did he learn this? Uh oh, this is not good…'_

* * *

Tenten, who had been testing out Shikamaru's hobby of cloud watching for the last couple hours, suddenly shot up to her feet when she saw her ponytailed friend approach the training ground. She seemed completely exhausted. Her clothes were soaked in sweat, her hair was messy, her feet were dragging on the ground, and her breaths were heavy.

"So, did you get the dirt on Naruto?" the weapon mistress asked.

Ino groaned. "No. I couldn't get him to make any shadow clones! He didn't even need any to form his rasengan! He must have learned to do it alone sometime..." she whined. The disappointment she felt for the failure of her plan was evident in her voice.

"So… Back to plan A?"

Ino sighed in defeat. "Fine. Mind Transfer jutsu it is," she responded very unenthusiastically.

* * *

After Ino regained enough energy to pull off her family's trademark jutsu, the two once again tracked down their boisterous target. The pair managed to spot him on his way back to his apartment. Ino and Tenten travelled over the village rooftops until they reached an alley just ahead of Naruto. There, the two waited in hiding for the blonde shinobi to walk by.

"Ok, so here's the plan: when Naruto walks by, I'll use my Mind Transfer jutsu to enter his mind. I'll check out the fantasy section of his brain. If my previous plan is working well, it should be filled with Hinata. You – catch my body so I don't just fall and hit my head. You have no idea how much of a headache it gives me to come back into a body with an already sore head."

"Hai!" Tenten responded, giving a salute to her leader in this reconnaissance mission of love.

Within a few minutes, their unsuspecting target walked within eyesight of the two kunoichi camped in the alleyway. Taking aim, Ino called upon the famed Yamanaka technique and entered the knucklehead's head.

* * *

**Within Naruto's Mindscape**

While Ino continued to make Naruto's body walk down the streets of Konoha, she stealthily searched through his mind, attempting to keep the shinobi from being alerted of her presence.

"Hmm… Well this looks weird," Ino commented as she took in her surroundings. She was standing in a shallow pool of water inside what appeared to be some sort of run-down sewer. "Strange… I've never seen a mind with a fantasy section like this… I thought there would be more ramen, and Naruto in Hokage robes… But this is just so… empty…"

As she looked from side to side for any of the sort of mental projections she had been expecting, she noticed something that seemed quite out-of-place in this setting. Just a few feet to her right were a row of iron bars which stretched all the way from the ground to the exceedingly-high ceiling.

"…Okay, I've never seen **anything** like **this** in someone's mind… What is this? It looks sorta like a prison cell, or a cage of some sort… Maybe it's a metaphor for Naruto's repressed sexuality? 'Cause that would actually explain a lot…"

As she walked towards the cell, shivers crawled up her spine. The mind-walker could not shake the sense of foreboding emanating from it, but pressed on against her better judgement. As she easily slipped between the huge gaps in the bars, a faint sound hit her ears. Almost like a very deep, slow breathing. The deeper she went into the pitch-black, the louder and more rapidly the noises came, until it became a quiet, but unmistakeable suppressed chuckle.

After one more step, a loud thump sounded behind her, shaking the ground beneath her, and a faint red glow lit the room from behind her.

"Aah!" Ino cried in shock and fear, frozen in place. The chuckling sound merely became louder. Soon, a loud, low, booming voice spoke out to her.

"**Heheheh… It has been a long time since I have had some… **_**female company.**_** Ah yes, a fine plaything you are indeed…"**

Curiosity outweighed fear, and the terrified Yamanaka cautiously turned around to meet the resident of Naruto's mind speaking to her. Her eyes widened and her voice caught in her throat. In front of her was something she would never have expected. Slowly approaching her was a giant fox, which was currently revealing a giant, throbbing…

* * *

**Back in the Real World**

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Ino cried as her limp body shot back up. She let out a sigh of relief after she found that she had successfully fled Naruto's mind.

"What is it?" a startled and concerned Tenten asked the girl in her arms.

Catching her breath, Ino responded, "Either I went into the wrong part of Naruto's mind, or that freak is into bestiality." The clueless blonde shuddered at the mentally scarring sight from just before she left the dense boy's mind.

"…I seriously hope it's the first one…" Tenten thought out loud. "So you didn't manage to find out how the knucklehead feels about Hinata?"

"No…" Ino answered shamefully. "We're gonna have to get some help for this. I'll go get my team and Naruto's. Tenten you get Hinata's team, Lee and Neji –"

"Oh no!" the weapon mistress interjected disapprovingly, "There is no way I'm going to ask that long-haired baka for help."

"You still mad at him, huh?"

"Very."

"So he still hasn't manned-up and apologized? Men; when will they learn. You should really do something to teach him a lesson," Ino suggested.

"Don't worry about that, he's already suffering plenty." Tenten grew a wicked smirk. "I've been holding out on him since our fight."

"Good for you!" Ino praised between giggles, "That oughta teach him! I'm sure he isn't happy about that one bit."

"Definitely not. He's actually been really irritable lately because of it. Personally, I'd hate to be the guy to get on his bad side," Tenten declared almost sympathetically.

* * *

**In Naruto's Apartment**

Naruto, who had just arrived home, let out a loud sneeze. Afterwards, he reluctantly proceeded with the task at hand. He stared down at the porcelain toilet bowl, glaring at it as though it were mocking it.

As a yellow stream began to flow into it, Naruto clenched his teeth as his face contorted into an expression of pain.

'_**Still hurts to piss, huh kit?'**_ his demon tenant asked.

'_Hell yes! I didn't even know I had tenketsu there!'_

'_**Oh yeah, there everywhere,'**_ the know-it-all fox responded indifferently.

'_Gee, thanks captain obvious!'_ Naruto retorted snidely. _'Say, why don't you actually be useful and open up the tenketsu again? All the other ones have already healed.'_

'_**Trust me kit, you don't want me to force **_**that**_** tenketsu open.'**_

'_Ugggghhhhh,'_ Naruto mentally groaned._ 'There has to be __**something**__ I can do about this! I don't know how long I can go on like this!'_

'_**Well… When I get a sore muscle, usually a good massage does the trick,'**_ the kyuubi suggested.

Naruto took a second to think on this. _'Hmm… Well, I guess it's worth a try…'_ After finishing his business, the dense shinobi tried out the demon fox's idea.

'_Ugh… agh… No good, it feels way too rough, even when I go gently. I don't think the massage idea is working…'_

'_**Hmm… Perhaps if you had something like the massage oils masseuses use, it would help out with the sensitivity issue.'**_

Naruto looked around his bathroom for anything of use. He spotted a bottle of lotion near the sink. Figuring it was probably the closest thing he would find in his room, he applied a generous amount and tried the kyuubi's idea again.

'_**How's that feel, kit?'**_

'_A bit better… It still hurts though. I think my hands are just too rough for this.'_

'_**Hm, perhaps. You could use someone with a gentler touch, like that Hinata vixen.'**_

'_Mmm… Yeah,' _Naruto agreed absent-mindedly, his thoughts drifting to Hinata's smooth, delicate hands _massaging_ his member.

'_**Yes, I am sure she would give you a proper rub-down. Perhaps she could even make use of those luscious mounds of hers; I am sure those must be nice and soft.'**_

'_Mmm… Yeah – Wait!'_ the blonde teen mentally shouted as he suddenly became aware of the impact of the fox's words due to the growing mass in his lubricated hands. _'You did that on purpose, didn't you!'_ he accused his sealed demon.

'_**Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Either way, I think you might want to go and get that picture if you want to fix this new **_**situation**_**.'**_

The image of the picture he had received from Hinata was **not** helping his situation. _'But… But won't doing _that _hurt more?'_ Naruto questioned.

'_**Don't worry, I already re-opened your tenketsu while you were spaced out.'**_

Indeed he had. Naruto was so lost in thought that he had not noticed the pain from his previously afflicted appendage had ceased. The horny shinobi mentally growled at the realization that the scheming demon had tricked him. _'You manipulative bastard fox...'_

'_**Just shut up and get the picture,'**_ the kyuubi demanded slowly and huskily. He could not wait to see the glorious image he had waited sixteen years for again.

Though he tried to resist, Naruto ultimately gave in, and reluctantly got to work.

* * *

The next day, after regular team training, the Konoha 11 (with the exceptions of Naruto, Hinata, and Neji) were all gathered in a park on the outskirts of town. Most of the shinobi were curious as to why they were all brought together like this. Kiba was the first to vocalize this question.

"So why exactly are we all here anyway?" All eyes immediately went to Ino and Tenten.

"Well you see," Ino started, "I am sure you're all aware of Hinata's crush on Naruto." This was met by nods of agreement. "We have been trying to get the two of them together for a while, and we think we may have finally cracked through Naruto's thick skull." Many of the group released a disbelieving chuckle or 'pfft' at this. "Anyway, we're trying to find out just how Naruto feels towards Hinata, but the problem is… Well, we can't. That's where you guys come in!" Ino finished enthusiastically.

"So you want us to play matchmaker for Hinata and the baka? Why should I waste my time on this? I'm outta here," Kiba complained, walking off with his arms crossed.

"Because," Ino called out to the dog breeder, "if you help us, we'll cool it with the dog jokes for a whole month."

Kiba's ears perked at this. He stopped walking, but still faced away from the group. "That is, unless you're just gonna walk away like a stray…"

"Fine!" Kiba interjected, delighted by the prospect of not having to listen to any more of the canine-themed teasing he had been receiving lately. It had really been getting old.

"Look," Ino said to the group, "we owe it to our friends to help them out with this. Hinata really likes Naruto. But for the longest time, Naruto has been so preoccupied chasing some silly childhood crush that the dobe has been completely blind to the fact that there is a great person who cares very much for him right under his nose."

A sneeze came from the group of ninjas. "Gazuntite, Sakura," Tenten said.

"Anyway," Ino continued, "we're just trying to make the both of them happy, and we need your help."

Shikamaru sat up and averted his gaze from the passing clouds to pose a question. "So what exactly do you want all of us to do?" Rather than being given an answer, all the other ninjas instead turned to him, waiting expectantly for him to provide the solution.

After an annoyed sigh, Shikamaru muttered a quiet "Troublesome…" Looking back to the _leaders_ of the operation, he lazily said, "Fine, just leave it to me. I'll go talk to the dobe and see if I can find anything out."

"Awesome! Thanks Shika!" Ino, along with the rest of the group, offered enthusiastic thank you's and pats on the back. The lazy Nara returned their sentiments with a weak, insincere smile.

* * *

The group found the whiskered shinobi walking down a road in the market district. He seemed to be tired, most likely due to the large box he was carrying in his hands.

The group quickly dipped into a nearby store and pretended to be shopping. They tried to avoid drawing attention to themselves so their target would not notice them or become suspicious of anything. The genius of the gang was forcefully pushed onto the street by Ino and Tenten, and slowly made his way to Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto! What's up?" he called out to the blonde. Naruto turned around and met his comrade with a wide smile.

"Yo, Shikamaru! How's it goin'?"

"Pretty good. What have you got there?" Shikamaru inquired, pointing at the large package in Naruto's hands.

"Oh, this?" Suddenly Naruto's face lost the childlike expression of joy he was known for. "Ero-sennin has got me on delivery duty again. The old perv just released one of his new books, and he's got me delivering them to all the Konoha book stores."

Suddenly the boy's face shot up again, as he put on an innocent, almost pleading look. "Think maybe you could help me out, pal? Eh, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru looked Naruto in the eye. The jinchuuriki was staring back at him with a friendly smile glued to his face. His eyes sparkled in hope. Then he looked at the package. It seemed pretty heavy. And who knew how many he would need to carry if he agreed to help; Konoha had a lot of book stores. Then he looked to the store where the rest of the gang was hiding. Ino would undoubtedly give him a good scolding if he backed out now. Then he looked back at Naruto. It would be rude if he refused to help, and even he was curious if the dobe would ever return Hinata's feelings. Then he looked back at the package…

"Ahh… Troublesome…" And with that he walked off in the other direction.

Naruto glared at his friend's backside as he walked away. "Good for nothing, lazy ass…" Naruto muttered under his breath.

* * *

The rest of the Konoha 11 facepalmed at the Nara's display of laziness. "Okay, since Shika has abandoned us," Ino addressed the group, "who else has got any ideas?"

The shinobi spent the next twenty minutes brainstorming and bickering amongst themselves, trying to come up with a plan of action. Eventually the suggestions became more and more ridiculous, and the group had yet to come up with a solid idea. Eventually Kiba, who had remained rather indifferent to the cause, had enough of it and stepped forward.

"I can't take any more of this crap. You guys are making this out to be way tougher than it actually is. Just step aside and let me handle this so we can all get this over with." With that remark the dog user led the group in once again tracking down the orange-clad ninja.

* * *

The gang found Naruto outside of a bookstore after having just dropped off a shipment of the new Icha Icha novel. Kiba and Akamaru separated from the group and jogged up to Naruto to walk beside him.

"Yo Naruto, good to see ya man," Kiba greeted.

"Hey Kiba, how's it goin'?" Naruto greeted back.

"Okay, how 'bout you?"

Naruto released an annoyed grunt. "Pretty shitty actually."

"Aw, I'm sorry to hear that dude. Hey! I know! How about I get your mind off of your troubles with a little game?" the dog user suggested.

"A game? Sure!" Naruto replied with his usual care-free attitude. "What game?"

A sly grin popped onto the Inuzuka's face. "It's called 'Kill, Fuck, Marry.' It's pretty simple: I just name three girls, and you tell me who you'd kill, who you'd fuck, and who you'd marry, and why."

"Alright! Bring it on!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"Okay… How about…" Kiba said, feigning deep thought, "Sakura, Hinata, and… uh…. Ino?"

"Hmmm…" Naruto gave each of these options consideration before announcing his first choice. "Well… I'd definitely have to kill Sakura…"

"EH?!" Kiba burst out. To say that he was surprised would be a tremendous understatement. _'I thought he used to have a huge crush on the chick! I mean, I guess it's good for Hinata and all that he's over her, but still… I didn't expect him to put her into the __**kill**__ category!'_ "How come?" Kiba asked, attempting to restrain his disbelief.

"Simple," Naruto answered with certainty, "She'd kill **me** if I ever tried to fuck or marry her."

Kiba facepalmed himself. The knucklehead was obviously not getting the point of the game. "Yeah, but what if she wouldn't?"

In a serious tone, Naruto replied, "I'm not willing to take that chance."

"Whatever, so who would you fuck and marry then?" the frustrated ninja asked.

"Hmm… Hey, if I'm going to marry one of them, wouldn't that mean that I would fuck them too?"

"Well… Uh… Ye…" Kiba was at a loss for words. This clueless dobe was really getting on his nerves. Why did he have to question everything!? "…I guess so. Just answer already!" Kiba snapped, losing his patience.

"Okay! Okay!" Naruto said placatingly, waving his hands in front of himself defensively. He then went back to his thinking. "Kiba?"

Kiba turned to face his friend with a menacing glare that had Naruto nearly flinching. "What is it now?" he asked, barely suppressing a growl.

"W-well," the fearful jinchuuriki started nervously, "Do I **have** to pick someone for marry **and** fuck? I mean, wouldn't that be cheating?"

Kiba began attempting to pull his hair out. _'Why can't he just play the damn game!'_ "It's just hypothetical!" he barked out.

"Oh, I get it," Naruto said. Kiba sighed in relief. Finally, he was starting to get how the game worked. Suddenly the blonde teen closed his eyes and began rubbing his temples in concentration. "Okay, so if I were a two-timing teme, who would I pick…"

"Aaaaaauuuuuggggggggghhhhhhh! ! ! THAT'S **NOT** WHAT I MEANT!"

* * *

After walking with Naruto for a while, Kiba returned to the group with his head hung in shame. His seemingly sweet and simple plan had failed, as Naruto had completely failed to grasp the nature of the game. Of course, this meant the gang was back to the drawing boards.

After another round of brainstorming, Shino pitched his idea. Pushing up his glasses, he told the others in a dull monotone, "You know, when a person is attracted to a potential partner, they produce chemicals called 'pheromones' as a reaction. Not everyone can smell them, however my kikaichu beetles can dete–"

"Hey, that's right!" Kiba interrupted, "All we need to do is get the two lovebirds together, and with my enhanced sense of smell I should be able to tell if that knucklehead is into her!"

"…Well, I can see I am not needed here," Shino commented, though the remark seemed to fall on deaf ears. With that, the bug tamer left the group completely unnoticed. Even with his almost fully covered face, one could still see a hint of dejection grace his few visible features.

"How are we gonna get the two of them together though?" Choji asked.

"Simple," Kiba replied with a smirk, "Naruto's out delivering his sensei's newest book right now. He said that his sensei is the one that writes all those Icha Icha books, right?"

"Yeah, those are the books that Kakashi-sensei is always reading," Sakura stated.

"Right, and do you know who else loves Icha Icha?" Kiba asked rhetorically.

* * *

Kiba was waiting patiently in the bookstore, pretending to be browsing their selection of literature. As he looked through the loaded bookshelves, he kept his ears open for the tone of the bell on the front door which would make anyone in the store aware of a new customer entering. The fourth time the bell rang, he glanced over to the door to find one of the people he had been waiting for.

The plan to get Naruto and Hinata together was quite simple really. The group had found and asked Jiraiya where Naruto's next delivery was going to be. With that knowledge, the rest was just a matter of misdirection. The dog breeder had casually mentioned to his kunoichi teammate that the new installment of the Icha Icha series had just arrived in town, and told her that a certain shop was even selling special-edition copies of the novel. The shop Kiba mentioned was, of course, the next one on Naruto's delivery schedule. The Hyuuga had acted uninterested in this news, but her teammate could tell that she had fallen for it, hook line and sinker.

Hinata entered the bookstore, wasting no time in heading to the section which usually carried her beloved Icha Icha novels. After a few minutes of searching through the series, she was confused to find the newest addition missing. Hinata went up to the clerk and asked where she could find the book. The clerk informed her that they were expecting the new shipment to arrive any minute now, but the man knew nothing about a special edition version, which disappointed Hinata greatly.

The patient Hyuuga decided to wait for the book to come in, as it would not be long and she wanted to get to reading the new erotic novel as soon as possible. With flawless timing, right as Hinata began browsing for any other books of interest, Naruto entered the shop.

Hinata was overjoyed to see a man enter the store carrying a large box labelled 'Icha Icha'. However, the heiress' excited face soon went red as she realized who was carrying said box. Though the person's face was obstructed by the package, Hinata could tell through the person's attire alone who they were.

Her face burned as she thought back to the scene outside his apartment two nights ago. Hinata had not seen her crush since that night, and had been unable to get the images out of her mind. She merely stared as the orange-clad ninja walked up to the front counter and dropped the box, once again revealing his handsome face.

When the blonde turned around to leave, Hinata panicked. Utilizing all the stealth skills she had developed in her past years of following her crush, she slid to the back of the store before Naruto caught sight of her.

This posed a problem for Kiba's plan. Apparently Hinata had **really** taken the 'give him some space' advice to heart. The Inuzuka looked back to the clueless jinchuuriki, who was just about to exit the store. Before he could do so, Kiba ran up to him in an attempt to salvage his plan.

"Hey, Naruto! Fancy running into you again!"

"Yeah, what are the chances!" Naruto responded, unaware that these meetings were no coincidence.

"So, has your sensei still got you running around town to deliver his books?"

"Yeah," Naruto grumbled in response, "The old perv's too cheap to hire someone to do it, and too lazy to do it himself, so he always sticks me with it."

"You know what? I say you've earned a break. Why not take some time off and browse around here with me? Maybe you'll be able to find some good reading material," Kiba suggested slyly.

"I dunno, I don't really read much," Naruto said in an unsure voice.

"Come on! I'm sure there's something here that'll pique your interest dude! Here, I'll show you where all the best books are!"

Without giving his companion the chance to decline, Kiba grabbed Naruto by the arm and started dragging him towards the aisle he saw Hinata hide in. Before they got to her though, the heiress scurried off into another aisle, hiding behind the shelves between them.

"Oops, wrong aisle. The **really** good books are over here!"

The three continued this game of hide-and-seek for some time, Kiba dragging Naruto around the store while Hinata continued to evade them. Somehow, the sneaky Hyuuga actually managed to snag a copy of the new Icha Icha novel while they were still being stocked onto the shelves, and made it to the front counter and threw down the correct amount of money. Unfortunately for her, before she could reach the exit, Naruto and Kiba appeared before her.

Panicking, Hinata did the only thing she could. She opened her new novel and buried her face inside of it, hoping Naruto and Kiba had not noticed her. _'What a lame disguise,'_ Hinata berated herself. _'There is no way either of them will fall for this. Now Naruto's going to see me, and Ino's plan is going to be ruined, all because I could not follow one simple order.'_

Surrendering to her fate, Hinata continued forward to the door, convinced that her crush would recognize her.

As expected, Naruto noticed her as she walked by, and decided to offer a friendly greeting. "Hey Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said offhandedly to the only person he knew that would openly immerse himself in those smut novels in public. Hinata merely gave a wave in response, never removing her head from the book. When he turned back to Kiba, the boy was sweat-dropping and at a complete loss for words. Meanwhile, a pleasantly surprised Hinata exited the store and immediately sprinted around the corner.

* * *

"So, anybody else got any ideas?" Ino asked to the rest of the group. The gang were once again back to the drawing boards after yet another failed attempted to get any insight on Naruto's feelings for Hinata.

This time, Sai raised his hand to put forth an idea. "What's your plan, Sai-kun?" a suddenly cheery Ino cooed. Tenten just rolled her eyes at her friend. Sai donned his usual fake smile and began to speak.

"Well, I was thinking of something else involving pheromones. Not only do men excrete them when they are attracted to another, but they can also become attracted to or subconsciously aroused by the scent of a female's pheromones. Therefore, if Naruto is attracted to Hinata, he would react to her pheromones. I once read in a book that there is the largest concentration of female pheromones in their urine. Therefore, if we can just get a urine sample from Hinata and –"

"**NO!**" everyone else shouted at once, shutting down the ANBU's idea.

While the gang resumed discussing other methods of getting the desired info from Naruto, Lee seemed to be growing increasingly restless. He was visibly shaking, and seemed almost as if he were angry. Suddenly, the spandex wearing shinobi could no longer contain himself.

"I cannot do this anymore! Sneaking around behind my friend and comrade's back in order to learn of his most private and intimate feelings! It is most unyouthful!" Lee burst out. "However, it is for the noble cause of love! For that, I shall simply be direct with Naruto-kun and try to get him to return Hinata-chan's feelings!" Lee finished with his finger pointed to the sky.

"Wait Lee, stop!" Ino hollered to the green blur. Unfortunately, the taijutsu expert's speed was unrivaled, as he easily outran all the other ninjas in his rush to get to Naruto.

* * *

Eventually the group lost Lee. After spending some time trying to track down the boy to stop him from revealing Hinata's biggest secret to her crush, the ninjas eventually gave up. Later on, Sakura spotted the Green Beast in the direction they were walking. The shinobi promptly ambushed Lee, surrounding him.

"What did you do, Lee?!" Ino asked loudly in the disobedient ninja's face.

Lee was no longer feeling at ease, and was sweating from intimidation. "I-I just told Naruto-kun how Hinata-chan felt for him! He said he completely returns her feelings, and he is even going to ask her out on a date!" Lee stammered out in a rush.

This caught the others off guard. Ino eased up suddenly, disbelieving of what she heard. Many of the others mimicked her reaction. The ponytailed kunoichi opened and closed her mouth, trying to find the correct words to say for a good couple of minutes before any sound actually came out.

"Well… Uh… Good job, Lee…" Ino congragulated her comrade disbelievingly.

"Yeah… Oh well, I'm sure Hinata will forgive us for spilling the beans once Naruto asks her out," Tenten said with a small smile. Surely her friend would not be too mad at them for embarrassing her once she witnessed the results.

"Besides, we'll still have a few days between when he asks her out and when she regains consciousness," Kiba joked. The entire gang joined in the laughter after that joke.

Their mission being complete, the group of worn out ninjas finally split up.

* * *

**Half an Hour Earlier**

Lee finally found the knuckleheaded jinchuuriki he was searching for outside a restaurant on the east end of the village.

"There you are, Naruto-kun!" Lee called out eagerly.

Naruto turned around to face his friend. "Hey bushy-brow! You looking for me?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun! I have something of great importance to tell you!" Lee began dramatically. "You see, one cannot truly enjoy the springtime of youth alone! In order to reach our true potentials, we must search for another to kindle our flames of youth!"

"Uh huh," Naruto responded.

"You see, Hinata-chan is like… a lotus flower that has yet to blossom. She yearns to bask in the sunlight of your youth before she can do so, and reveal her true inner beauty to the world!" Lee declared emotionally, tears streaming down his face. "Do you know what I mean, Naruto-kun?"

"Yep."

"And surely you must share her desires and passion, do you not?"

"Yeah."

"That is most excellent! Then please, you must make your feelings known! Hinata-chan's flames of youth will continue to grow dim in solitude if you do not! Will you heed my advice and unite together in this, your springtime of youth?" Lee asked, hopeful for his friends' happiness.

"Of course," Naruto responded, still feigning understanding. The blonde may be dense, but he knew better than to question Lee when he was in the middle of one of his speeches about youth. It was far better to just get through it quickly and painlessly. The sooner he was done, the sooner Naruto could eat.

"This is fantastic news! I shall leave you to it at once! You will not regret this, Naruto!" Lee declared excitedly, finishing off with a nice guy pose. He then ran off, leaving Naruto to enjoy his dinner.

* * *

**A/N: How was the chappie? It had the all the Konoha 11 (except Neji), Kurama, Mnd Transfer jutsu, some biology (I legit read a little about pheromones online, and that's how I got the inspiration for Sai's suggestion), and lots of youth! See you next chapter!**

**FAVE/FOLLOW/REVIEW/REPEAT!**


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